Hogwarts, Quidditch, and Oliver Wood
by littleblueghost
Summary: A look into Katie's Bell's life as she attends Hogwarts, plays quidditch, and deals with friends and relationships. It also takes into account the various ups and downs of her slowly developing relationship with Oliver Wood.
1. First Year

Please note that this work takes some information from the films, and some information from video games and other sources. However, I've only taken pains to make it comply with the facts presented in the books. Other details, such as Leanne being in Hufflepuff, were changed for the ease of the story as there was no information in the books to support that this was Leanne's house. Keep in mind that there may be mistakes, but this story has been looked over and to the best of my knowledge, does not contradict the information presented in the books. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy the story.

* * *

Katie Bell flipped her dark brown hair away from her face, her brow furrowing in annoyance as the locks drifted back down across her face. This cut was too short for her tastes, but her mother had insisted she not use a potion to grow it out, 'it's cute', she'd said. Katie rolled her eyes at the thought, who cared if it was cute, it wasn't very practical. It kept falling in her face, and if she was going to try out for the quidditch team this year, it was just obnoxious. How in the world would she be able to fly if her hair was all in her face? She sighed.

"Please, keep up young lady." Professor McGonagall snapped. The remark lifted Katie out of her thoughts, and she quickly ran to catch up with the group, her hand jumping up to hold the hair out of her face as she did so. Her eyes widened as the group entered the grand hall, taken by its splendor. Just as she was admiring the high ceilings and floating candles, the group stopped and the teachers began talking in turn. Finally, the sorting began. As the names went by, a jittery girl with dark hair turned to her, "What house do you want to be in?" she inquired, a nervous smile across her face. "Uh-I . . . well I don't know." Katie giggled. The girl joined in, "I'm Leanne by the way."

"I'm Katie."

"Katie Bell!" Katie's head snapped up as she heard her name and she quickly scrambled up towards the front. However, in her scurrying she tripped, barely catching herself before she hit the floor. A surge of laughter spread throughout the hall, and Katie blushed. Her eyes downcast, she walked carefully the rest of the way and settled herself on the stool. The sorting hat was placed on her head, and she waited with bated breath for its answer. The hat hummed and hawed briefly, but it was barely 5 seconds before it shouted in its booming voice, "Gryffindor!" A broad smile broke across her face and she rushed towards the Gryffindor table, her hands shaking from the excitement. The Gryffindor table greeted her with cheers and patted her back and shoulders as she joined them at the table.

To her excitement, Leanne was sorted into Gryffindor as well, but their attention was soon swept away by the quick conversation and delicious food at the Gryffindor table.

After the meal, the first years were lead to their towers, and introduced to their rooms, and by extension, their roommates.

Over the next couple of days, Katie tried her best to keep up with classes and be friendly towards her classmates, and felt nearly overwhelmed by everything. But still, when she ended up sitting next to two girls murmuring about the Gryffindor quidditch team tryouts at breakfast that morning, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to poke questions.

"I'm sorry," Katie blurted out, lurching forward in her seat, "When did you say tryouts were?"

"Tomorrow after school," the one girl replied, "On the quidditch pitch." The other girl leaned forward, "So many people graduated last year that the captain's holding tryouts for the _entire_ team, -well, other than seeker." The girls continued conversing, but Katie was lost in a wave of determination, and building excitement.

* * *

The next day, Katie rushed out onto the pitch, pads on, broom in hand, and hair flying about. She fell into line amongst the dozens of other Gryffindors trying out. She wondered how many of them were for going for chaser, she hoped not too many. She glanced around, spotting the two girls from breakfast the other day, she vaguely wondered which positions they were trying out for.

"Alright then, we're going to divide you up based on position." Katie could hear the commanding voice, but couldn't see the person with the long row of people blocking her view. She leaned forward slightly, peering around the group to spot the captain. He was a pale, red-headed fellow with freckles and strong features.

"Keepers over there, chasers-there, and beaters over here." He motioned. A small group of students was scattered throughout the stands, and as Katie moved over the chaser section of tryouts, she spotted a gaggle of girls giggling and pointing at the captain. "What's up with them?" she muttered to no one in particular. "It's Charlie Weasley," a voice informed her. Katie glanced over to see the girls from the other day lined up next to her, "He's a star quidditch player, and fairly good looking if you hadn't noticed." One girl smiled. "He's got a _fantastic_ smile." The other girl added. "It's nice to see you here, I'm Angelina by the way, and this is Alicia." She motioned to her friend. "I'm Katie." She nodded. The girls smiled at her. They were quiet for a moment as Charlie began a speech about the importance of teamwork.

"See those twins over there in the beaters section?" Alicia pointed. Katie turned, spotting two red-headed boys, making silly hand gestures and laughing. "They're in our year. They're Charlie's younger brothers, Fred and George."

"Oh, and you're . . . ?"

"We're second years, and you?" Angelina piped up. "First." Katie smiled sheepishly. "Ooh, tough luck, first years never make the team." A boy chimed in. "Shut up." Angelina snapped, and she turned back to Katie, "Don't listen to him, he's an idiot." The boy rolled his eyes. "Is it true though?" Katie wondered, her grip on her broom tightening nervously. Alicia and Angelina exchanged nervous looks, "Well, there's a first time for everything isn't there?" Angelina offered hopefully. Katie drooped, she had been looking forward so much to these tryouts, and now it turned out there was no point. Alicia and Angelina were quiet for a few moments, until a slow smile spread across Alicia's face. "Angelina fancies Fred." She whispered. Angelina's eyes widened in horror as Katie and Alicia giggled. "Alicia!" she scolded. "I myself think I'd prefer dating another chaser, they've got a leaner build you know?" Alicia shrugged, "How about you? See anyone you like?" Angelina was still stewing as Katie scanned the groups, not paying much attention. Her eyes fell on a boy in the keeper section. He was tall and had short brown hair. He was a little plain looking, and had a very serious expression on his face, he appeared to be taking in every word of Charlie's speech. In fact, he seemed to be the only one paying attention to Charlie's speech at all.

"That's Oliver Wood." Alicia informed her. Katie's attention shifted back to the girls as they grinned playfully at her, "He was on the team last year," Angelina added, "a righteous good keeper." But before any more information could be exchanged, Charlie finished up his speech and called the chasers up first. "Three at a time please, whoever's first in line." Charlie ordered, "Wood, do me a favor and guard the hoops." Oliver gave a nod and mounted his broom, quickly taking his position amongst the hoops. As it happened, there were 6 students trying out for chaser. First up was an older student, that nosy boy, and Angelina. Katie observed from her spot on the ground, momentarily forgetting her disappointment as she was caught up in the game. The nosy boy was fairly decent she supposed, but Angelina was the clear star on the field. The older boy was just sad, his efforts were clumsy and even when the quaffle managed to go towards the hoops at a healthy speed, Oliver Wood blocked it with little effort. The nosy boy almost managed a goal or two, and Angelina scored twice. But despite the efforts of the chasers, Katie found herself increasingly impressed with Wood's skills. And as her turn drew nearer, she grew more and more nervous, and more and more excited.

Finally, the three touched ground, and Alicia, Katie, and a 7th year boy who had been on the team last year were called up. Katie swallowed nervously as she flew up into the air, her palms sweating and the adrenaline in her system rising as Charlie took to the center of the field. As soon as he tossed the quaffle, there was a flurry of movement. The 7th year caught in, and sped off towards the hoops. Katie noted Alicia's impressive speed and agility on her broom as she took her position by the hoops to acquire the quaffle after his shot. The 7th year took his shot, and Katie watched as Wood caught it in his hands, reeling back slightly before tossing it to Alicia so she could take her shot. Katie's eyes widened, he was even more impressive up close, but she refused to be intimidated, and took her spot beside the hoops. After Alicia's turn, Katie rose up to the hoops, quaffle in hand and took her shot. It flew out from her hand, curving as it did so. Oliver whipped to the side of the hoop, his eyes widening in shock as he just barely managed to catch it, his broom spinning him all the way around as he did so. Katie let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, because for going up against someone like Oliver Wood? It was a pretty decent start.

By the end of chaser tryouts, Alicia had scored twice, and the 7th year had scored three times. Katie had only managed one, but it had been a proud moment. And as she dismounted her broom, she felt a surge of confidence. She watched the rest of the tryouts intently. Keeper tryouts were fairly uneventful, there were only two contestants and Oliver was clearly the more talented of the two. The beaters she vaguely paid attention too, but she did notice some skill in Charlie's younger brothers. To nobody's real shock, the members chosen were Angelina, the nosy boy, the 7th year, Oliver, Fred, and George. Alicia has made the reserve team. Katie was disappointed, but with such entertaining tryouts she couldn't say she was entirely depressed. And as she walked off the field, her muscles sore and her robes dusty and dirty, she felt a sense of accomplishment. "Hey! Wait up!" Katie didn't pause in her walking, but glanced back at the voice. An excitable Oliver Wood was hot on her trail, and he soon fell into step beside her.

"You surprised me, you were pretty good out there." He complimented. Katie's brow furrowed, "And that surprised you?" she asked. "Well, you were so little, I reckon you're only a first year too."

"So what if I am?" she inquired defensively. "Hey now, don't be so upset." He stepped in front of her, cutting off her path. Slowly, she looked up to meet his eye, he had an amused smile on his face. "I was paying you a compliment." She was silent for a minute or two as his smile never wavered. "Well…thanks." She murmured, and she slowly began walking again, pushing past him. He trailed along beside her. "All I meant, was that you have skills, and should be refining them for next year. I'll bet you anything you make the team then." Katie snorted, "And how would _you_ know?"

"Well, I don't know for sure exactly," he admitted, faltering, Katie rolled her eyes. "But!" he interjected, "You're talented, I reckon you just barely missed the cut this year." Katie stopped dead in her tracks. She stopped so abruptly that Oliver was still walking for a couple seconds before he realized she had stopped. And he paused a few feet ahead of her, glancing back at her as she eyed him suspiciously ". . . really?" she asked slowly. His face slowly broke out into another smile, "Why would I lie to you?" he joked. Katie's skepticism slowly melted as she looked at the face of this boy she had thought so plain. He was plain, actually, but when he smiled…well, that brought a little color to him. She carefully began walking again, "So…what year are you?" she inquired, attempting to appear nonchalant. "Me? I'm a fourth year, this'll be my third year on the team. I'm really looking forward to the season this year actually, I think we've gathered a pretty good team."

"Yeah . . . pretty good." Katie responded flatly. Oliver suddenly stopped, "Hopefully next year you'll be on it. Anyways, I've got to go. I'll be seeing you." And with another brief flash of his amused smile, he turned and headed back to the quidditch pitch. Katie watched him go for a moment, and then continued her trek back to the castle alone.

* * *

He was only a few people down the table from her. And quite frankly, she wasn't quite sure what interested her so much about him. He wasn't particularly good looking, or charming really. His quidditch skills were impressive, but he was awkward in conversation. He seemed entirely focused on the game during practice, but went out of his way to compliment her. And for everything that he was, or was not, or might be, she couldn't get a proper read on him just yet. "Staring at Oliver Wood?" Alicia whispered in her ear as she settled down beside her. Angelina took the seat on her other side, grinning ear to ear. "He's . . . interesting." Katie admitted. "Interesting in a _cute_ kind of way?" Alicia teased. Katie scrunched up her nose, "No, not really. More of an…awkward, good at quidditch kind of way." She admitted. Alicia rolled her eyes, "Well you're no fun." She teased. Katie opened her mouth to protest but Alicia and Angelina burst into giggles. "I'm just joking." And soon Katie was smiling too.

* * *

The first game of the season, Katie made sure to get a good seat to cheer on Angelina and Alicia, not the mention the rest of the entire Gryffindor quidditch team. She and Leanne sat together, waving their Gryffindor flags and screaming proudly. "You really like quidditch don't you?" Leanne observed as Katie let out a particularly loud scream. "I love quidditch! I tried out for the team, but didn't make it." She admitted. "That's too bad, which position do you play?" Leanne inquired as they sat themselves down on the bleachers. "I'm a chaser." Katie replied, her eyes glued to the pitch as the teams entered. A boy making announcements as they did so. "Wow, the tall red-head's kind of cute." Leanne observed. "That's Charlie Weasley, he's the captain." Katie replied. "Hmm…is he taken?" Leanne asked playfully. Katie laughed, "He's _17_!"

"_So_?" Leanne giggled. "We're _11_! He's 6 years older." Katie rolled her eyes as Leanne burst into laughter, "Anything's possible when you're in _love_!" she joked. "Yeah, I'm sure you'll get married and have dozens of little red-haired babies." Katie added. And soon the girls were laughing and grinning ear to ear.

* * *

Sadly, they did not win the quidditch cup that year, and Katie had little thought again of Oliver Wood until her second year came around.


	2. Second Year

Once again Katie stood at the quidditch pitch, this time, her friend Leanne sat in the stands to cheer her on. And once again, the captain came out to greet the students. This time, however, there were a few differences. For one, most of the students from last year's team were still around, so the only positions being filled were 1 chaser slot (Alicia had already taken one when she was bumped up from the reserve team), and the seeker. The other difference was due to Charlie Weasley's graduation, a new captain. This time in the form of one plain looking keeper, Oliver Wood. As he approached the group, Katie noted that he looked mostly unchanged, same plain face and serious glare, she wondered vaguely if he remembered her from last year. When he scanned the group and she saw no notable change in his expression, she decided 'probably not'.

He himself guarded the hoops for chaser tryouts, this time there were only 2 students vying for the spot. But competition was tough, she and the other girl both scored 2 goals, leaving Katie flustered as she touched ground. Though she begrudgingly admitted to herself that she may not have performed as well as she might've, as she spent a good chunk of time attempting to identify some type of recognition in Oliver's features as she played. The next group was for seeker, but only 1 boy showed up to fill Charlie Weasley's slot, and he was quite poor at it. By the end of tryouts, Oliver looked positively exasperated by the low turnout, but from what Katie had heard, that was to be expected. With last year's loss, and the arguably best member of the team (Charlie Weasley) gone, a lot of students seemed to have lost faith in the entire team. Nonetheless, when Katie's name was called and she was welcomed onto the team, she was exuberant nonetheless. She was so excited in fact, that she nearly didn't care that Oliver had not recognized her. She didn't care, that is, until during the midst of congratulations from the team, he wandered up behind her and whispered in her ear, "Told you you'd make it this year." But before she could even widen her eyes in shock, he was back at the forefront of the crowd, ordering the group to begin practice.

* * *

Oliver Wood ran a tough and grueling quidditch practice, and by the end, everyone seemed completely exhausted. Leanne had headed back to the dormitories a while ago, but not before giving Katie a hearty grin and thumbs up. "That was a great first practice today team!" Oliver announced as they entered the locker rooms, "I only have a few notes-but they can wait until next time." He said upon catching the looks of exhausted disinterest from his teammates. "If only we had a seeker . . ." he muttered. She too, was concerned about their lack of a seeker, but at the moment she was almost too tired to care, and she retreated to the showers.

When Katie stumbled into the dorms, she was caught off guard as Leanne threw her arms around her, "Congratulations Katie! You made the team!" she grinned, pulling away from her friend. "Thanks." Katie smiled, it was quite an effort after the workout she had. And afterwards, she collapsed onto her bed.

"Tired?" Leanne settled herself on her own bed, staring at Katie's limp form. "Practice was terrible." Katie moaned. Leanne let out a laugh, "Well, you knew this was going to be work."

"But it's _so much_ work." Katie moaned, only half-joking. Leanne giggled, "Well, goodnight Katie." She curled herself under the covers, and put out her light. Katie mumbled a goodnight, but didn't move from her spot, her eyes fluttering closed as she slowly drifted off into slumber.

* * *

"Great news everybody!" Oliver exclaimed, running out onto the pitch to join his team. Katie noted a small, messy-haired boy with glasses trailing behind him. "We've got ourselves a seeker." Oliver skidded to a stop in front of them, the boy settling himself beside him and waving shyly. "Harry, these are our beaters, Fred and George Weasley-"

"We've met." Fred and George chorused, and the boy gave a smiled. "-and these are our chasers, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell." He motioned to them in turn, and Harry waved. "Everybody, this is Harry Potter." A gasp or two was heard, but mostly people broke into warm smiles and expressed their excitement at meeting him. Harry, for his part, seemed friendly, and just a little bit shy.

But, if Harry didn't feel like speaking, it hardly mattered, Oliver Wood more than made up for it by launching into a long, inspirational speech. The team tried to stay focused, but was relieved when Oliver finally grinned and said, "Well! Let's start practice, shall we?"

* * *

"Bell! Pay attention, would you?" Oliver called out from his place at the hoops. As if on cue, a bludger came out of nowhere and nicked Oliver's broom, sending him spinning. "Cut it out Fred!" he snapped. "I'm George!" Fred quipped. "Whatever!" Oliver called. "Just kidding! I am Fred!" Fred and George exchanged grins. Oliver groaned. Katie watched as the twins teased Oliver, her mind still elsewhere. She meant to pay attention, she really did. She knew that the first game was important, but she just couldn't focus. The reason she couldn't focus, was because of a spindly boy with large ears staring at her from the bleachers. Had he just been watching practice, she would have been perfectly fine. But he _wasn't_, he was watching _her_, his wide eyes were glued to her, watching her every movement and she couldn't focus.

"Bell!" Katie snapped out of her trance just in time to be hit in the gut with a flying bludger.

* * *

"Katie? Katie? Can you hear me?" Katie moaned as her eyes slowly opened, revealing the blurry outlines of her teammates standing over her. She made a motion to sit up, but a searing pain in her stomach stopped her and she let out a yelp before falling back onto the ground again.

"Listen to me closely Katie," Oliver began, his voice slowing, "Do you think you'll be able to play in the game against Slytherin?" this inquiry was followed by the sound of a punch, and some muttering from Oliver. "Be a little more sensitive than _that_ mate." George rolled his eyes. "No foolin'." Fred added.

"M-my stomach . . ." Katie's voice came out in a whisper, but it served its purpose, the team's attention was back on her. "She'd better go to the hospital wing." Angelina observed. Katie was too tired to form any sort of opinion on the matter, so when one of her teammates scooped her up bridal style, she made no complaints other than a slight groan from the pain. The person holding her shifted her around in their arms, and then started giving orders, "Everyone, keep practicing until I get back. I don't want any slacking, and Fred, George, _please_ try not to injure anyone else while I'm away."

"Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose?" George asked. "Yeah, you might as well tell us to sit out." Fred shrugged. "No sitting out!" he yelled, and started down the pitch. Katie managed to roll her head to the side to get a look at who was carrying her, and she should have guessed it, Oliver Wood. He glanced down at her, "You alright there Bell? Don't you worry, Madam Pomfrey will have you fixed up in a jiffy. Hopefully you won't have to miss you're first game, that'd be just batty." Katie watched as that amused smile broke out over his face again, and wondered again, what exactly was it about this boy that interested her? Her brief bout of concentration was broken when that boy who had been staring at her (and caused this whole ordeal) ran up beside them. "Hey! Hey, is she okay?" he asked. Oliver eyed him for a moment, "She'll be fine." He replied. The boy nodded, he seemed quite flustered. Up close, Katie noticed that his nose curved upward slightly, a permanent sort of smirk, and his wide eyes and large ears gave him an awkward sort of appearance. He was fairly tall as well, very scrawny, but not much shorter than Oliver. "Do you need any help?" the boy asked nervously. "I've got her." Oliver replied, shifting Katie in his arms once again. "Are you sure? If you want, I could take her to the hospital wing so you could get back to practice." Oliver eyed to boy hesitantly, watching his eager expression. "Uh . . . well, if you don't mind . . ." he trailed off, stopping to face the boy. Katie did not particularly want this strange boy to touch her, but had no energy to argue. So, with barely a twitch on her part, she was exchanged, and settled into the arms of this boy. She was surprised that his scrawny little arms didn't snap under her weight. Oliver paused, before completely releasing her, perhaps a little wary of leaving his teammate under this stranger's care. "Be careful with her okay?" he finally relented, and stepped back, making a strange, nervous hand gesture as he did so. "Yeah." The boy adjusted him arms slightly. "You got her?" Oliver stepped forward again for a moment, "Yeah, I've got her." The boy assured him, smiling slightly as he started towards the school. Oliver let out a breath, and with one final look of reluctance, headed back down to the quidditch pitch.

As they continued walking, the boy continued shifting her about uncomfortably every couple of minutes, apparently, he _was_ just about as strong as he looked. "You doing okay?" he asked, attempting to hide how out of breath he was. Katie could only try to channel how discomforted she was through her stare. Perhaps it got through, because the boy seemed even more uncomfortable after that, and they walked the rest of the way to the hospital wing in silence.

When they finally arrived in the hospital wing, she _still_ wasn't rid of him. No, he hovered about her bed as Madam Pomfrey tended to her. She felt that the time stretched on forever. And when her team arrived in the wing, tracking dirt everywhere, she was grateful for the interruption.

"Katie!"

"Katie are you alright?"

"Hope they're not conducting _experiments_ on you!"

"Or conspiring to make you even _worse_!" her teammates jumped around her making excited conversation. Katie broke out into a smile, "I'm fine, just fine."

"That's good." Angelina smiled, "Who's this?" her expression faltered as she spotted the boy. Quickly, he stood up and smoothed his palms against his robes before holding out his hand, "Oh, uh, I'm Ethan Perry." The group stared at him momentarily, and then turned their attention back to Katie. "He brought me to the hospital wing." Katie explained groggily. "That's right! We were so surprised when Oliver came right back to practice." Alicia informed her.

"We thought he'd gone mad, leaving you with a stranger and all. You could've been _molested_ or something." Fred nodded. "Oh-uh…I-I would never do that." Ethan assured them. The group looked at him again, "Of course you wouldn't Eric, all that staring usually means you're _not_ interested." Fred teased. The twins eyed him smugly as he blushed. Katie was feeling fairly embarrassed herself as Angelina and Alicia giggled.

"She's alright then I take it?" Oliver's voice filled the room as he entered the wing, his eyebrows raised in a questioning sort of stare. "Where were _you_ then?" Alicia inquired. "Had something to take care of." Oliver replied shortly, stopping beside Katie's bed. "Thanks for taking her for me mate." He said as he spotted the boy. The boy gave a curt nod.

Suddenly a gasp was heard, and the quick footsteps and angry groaning announced the arrival of Madam Pomfrey, "Out! All of you! _Out!_ Miss Bell needs some rest!"

"We were just-" but Oliver was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey shooing them out of the wing, and Katie was content to finally be alone.

* * *

"You sure you're alright?" Leanne was sitting by her bedside, carefully rooting through a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "I'm fine, it was more of a shock than anything." Katie assured her, sitting up in her bed. "A _shock_, you broke a rib!" Leanne rolled her eyes, "I mean, the stuff you put up with to be a part of this game. I don't understand it, all the practices and now _injuries_? I could never do it."

"You could if it was something you really cared about." Katie assured her, taking a handful of beans from the box Leanne was holding. She popped a promising looking one into her mouth, cardboard flavor, as it turned out. Leanne shrugged, "Well…maybe if there was a boy I really liked on team." Leanne shot Katie a glance, gauging her reaction.

"A boy? What are you talking about?" Katie inquired, popping another bean into her mouth, this one was cherry. "Well…I hear some guy from the team carried you here." A poorly kept grin spread across Leanne's face. Katie rolled her eyes. "Oh, him? He wasn't on the team, he was just watching us practice."

"Was he cute?" Leanne shuffled her hand around inside the box a little. Katie considered his wide eyes, big ears and gangly frame. She thought about his upward smile and eager expression and decided, "Not really, he was kind of annoying." Leanne broke into laugher, "Well then, no romance for you, huh Katie?" Leanne joked, tossing a bean into her mouth. Katie gave a smirk, "Not if I can help it."

Their first game was a grand success, and for a moment, all that hard work almost seemed worth it for this moment. And with the win being against Slytherin, Oliver was especially giddy. He was so excited after in fact, that after they won he even hugged Fred and George, who responded with a joking disgust.

* * *

As Katie was leaving the locker rooms, she spotted Ethan leaning against the wall a little ways away. "Oh! Katie!" he called. Katie groaned, spotted, now she had no choice but to talk to him. "Hi." She smiled as politely as she could, and walked over to him. "That was a great match, you were really amazing." He grinned. "You mean _Harry_ was amazing, I think the rest of us hardly did a thing." She sighed. "No, no, you were brilliant." He exclaimed. Katie gave a look at his sincere face, and relaxed slightly. "Well . . . thanks." She began walking off the pitch, Ethan following in hot pursuit. So- um, you know-you know Adrian Pucey?" he asked hesitantly. Katie was caught off guard by the question, and it took her a few seconds before she recognized the name. When she did, she stopped abruptly and whirled around to face Ethan, catching him off guard and causing him to stumble backwards slightly.

"_Adrian Pucey_? That chaser from the Slytherin quidditch team?" her expression must have been quite foreboding, because Ethan gave a nervous gulp and nodded. "What about it?" she asked, her eyes wide as she advanced on him. "H-he- um . . . well-you see the reason I- I mean, I've been f-following . . . trying to talk to you these past couple of-well . . . uh . . ." the more he stuttered the more aggravated she became, and the wider her eyes got and the tighter the clenching of her teeth, the more nervous Ethan became. "W-what I _mean_ to say is . . ." he inhaled deeply, "H-he likes you."

Katie's jaw literally dropped she was so shocked. "Is this some kind of _joke_?" she asked, her voice still laced with anger. "No," Ethan seemed a tad calmer now, "That's why I've been trying to talk to you . . . he's been too nervous to ask you out himself. I mean…with the whole 'team rivalry' thing." He explained. Katie scoffed, "So he asked _you_?" and without waiting for a response, she turned on her heel and started off the pitch again. Just in time too, as her teammates had begun spilling out of the locker room.

"Yes! He did! He really likes you!" Ethan called out rather loudly, he seemed partially offended. Katie whirled around to shush him, causing him to stumble back once more. "Quiet!" she hissed, "If my teammates hear you they'll skin me alive," she took a step back and looked him head to toe, "and probably you too." She started off again, and this time Ethan ran up beside her, and lowered his voice, "So…will you consider it?" he asked hopefully. Katie scoffed again, "Not a chance. Even if I _wanted_ to date some buffoon from that team, I'd never hear the end of it." She informed him, and as an afterthought, muttered to herself, "Especially from Oliver."

"Oliver?" Ethan glanced back at the team, "Oh! You mean the keeper? Why? Is he your boyfriend?"

"No!" Katie answered a little too quickly, and a little too loudly. She had stopped to face him once again, her eyes intense and her face flushed. Her team was now eyeing her suspiciously, and Ethan was giving her a knowing smile, "_Sure he's not_."

"He's _not_." Katie lowered her voice, leaning towards him slightly so he could hear. Ethan eyed her suspiciously, but when her focused stare didn't waver, he finally seemed to believe her. "Well . . . then why would he care?"

"He's the captain, he doesn't want his team 'fraternizing with the enemy', so to speak." She responded, her confidence rising. "Well…why should you care what he thinks?" Ethan seemed confused. "Why do _you_ care so much?" Katie snapped. Ethan's brow furrowed, "Adrian's my friend."

"Your 'friend.'" Katie's eyebrows raised skeptically. "He's a nice guy! He really is." Ethan replied defensively. Katie sighed, "Whatever, it doesn't matter, I'm not going out with him."

"Going out with who?" Katie and Ethan's heads both snapped up to face the voice, which turned out to be Oliver Wood, standing in front of the entire Gryffindor quidditch team. "This guy bothering you Katie?" George inquired, glancing at Ethan. "Because we can take him out for you." Fred gave a mischievous grin that made Ethan tense up. "No, it's fine, he's just…being stupid." She finished. Ethan glared at her. "Is he trying to ask you out?" Alicia asked. "No! I'm…it's my friend who wants to date her." Ethan explained, but he faltered a little at their stare. "Who is it?" Alicia asked again. Ethan opened his mouth to respond, but Katie cut him off, "Nobody! It's doesn't matter! Ugh! Why don't you all just back off!" and with a final resounding note of fury, she stalked off the field, and the calls from neither Ethan, or her teammates could stop her.

* * *

"_Adrain Pucey?_ Really?" Leanne sat on her bed in her pajamas, listening as Katie relayed the events of the day. Katie was standing by her bed, pulling her pajama top over her head before answering. "I _know_! And Ethan _actually thought_ I might agree to date him. Can you believe that?" Katie pulled her hair out of her face, and sat down on her bed, folding her legs together and turning to face Leanne. "Well . . . I don't know, other than being on the other quidditch team, what's so bad about him?"

"_Please_! Everyone on that team is a bully! They cheat during games, and pick on us outside of them, I've never seen a single redeeming quality out of the lot of them. "Well, Adrian must have _some_ sense. I mean, he likes you, doesn't he?" Leanne smiled. Katie smiled slightly as well, but rolled her eyes just the same, "Well, _yeah_, but he had to get his _friend_ to ask me." She scoffed. Leanne sighed, "You didn't like Oliver, you didn't like Ethan, and now you don't like Adrian. So tell me Katie Bell, are you _ever_ going to like a boy?" Katie paused, shifting uncomfortably in her spot. "Well . . . sure, someday. Just- you know, when I meet the right person."

"And what kind of person might that be?"

". . . I don't know."

* * *

"Bell! Can I talk to you for a minute?" Katie glanced down from her broomstick, spotting Oliver standing in the field, staring up at her. She sighed, she wondered vaguely if this was about her performance today, she knew she was out of it. But to be fair, she hadn't slept much in the past couple of days, too much studying to do. Not to mention her slight . . . preoccupation with what Ethan and Leanne had said to her.

She sighed, and reluctantly flew down to talk to him as the others zipped about the field. She dismounted, and grasped the broom in her hand, walking the last couple of feet to Oliver. But as she got closer, she noticed how he nervously shifted back and forth on his feet, staring at the ground as he did so. By the time she reached him, she was more concerned than annoyed, "Everything alright Oliver?" she asked, stopping in front of him. Oliver's eyes met hers, and he awkwardly straightened himself up, "I wanted to apologize. You know- for, the other day." It took her a minute to catch on. "Oh! Oh, you mean- no, it's no problem. Why are you apologizing? I was the one who lost my temper." She assured him. He smiled a little, "I don't really know," he admitted, laughing a little, "It just seemed to proper thing to do." Katie rolled her eyes, but smiled in spite of herself. "Well, thanks, but it's not an issue Oliver."

"Good, great!" he let out a breath, and seemed quite relieved, "Then let's get up there, shall we?" and when he smiled at her again, Katie couldn't help but think of Leanne's words, 'what kind of person might that be?' Well…Oliver was three years older than her, he was also her captain. But regardless, he was a nice guy, determined, fairly confident, not particularly good looking, but not too awful looking either, and he definitely shared her love of quidditch, oh he _definitely_ loved quidditch. But still, when she looked at him she didn't feel excited, or light-headed, her heart didn't beat any faster and her palms didn't sweat. There were no butterflies in her stomach, and she never felt warm in the face. In the end, she realized that Oliver probably _was_ 'her kind of person', but there was something missing. That something that was supposed to make your heart flutter each time you saw that person.

"Katie? You alright?" she was snapped out of her thoughts by a slightly concerned Oliver. "Huh? Yeah, why?"

"You were sort of . . . staring at me." His eyes glanced around uncomfortably. "Sorry, I was just thinking about stuff." Katie admitted. Oliver still looked confused, but before he could ask any more questions, Katie mounted her broom and kicked off the ground, "Come on Wood!" she grinned as she flew higher and higher. And when Oliver finally took his rightful spot at the hoops, and her fellow teammates began throwing quaffles, whacking bludgers and chasing that elusive snitch, she felt that she didn't need a boyfriend. This quidditch team, and Leanne too, that was all she needed for right now. But . . . maybe someday.

* * *

"Wow, I'm always amazed at how beautiful the school looks come Christmas time." Leanne noted as she and Katie wandered down the halls. "It is rather pretty." Katie agreed. "Oh, I completely forgot! I have to talk to Professor McGonagall about my essay! You go on to class without me, I'll catch up later, alright?" Katie hastily explained before running off down the corridor, leaving a surprised looking Leanne in her wake.

She took a short cut through a usually less crowded hallway, hoping to get to McGonagall quicker, but instead, as she rounded the corner she ran headfirst into someone, and landed flat on her back her books flying every which way. She sat up as quickly as she could, gathering her things and muttering angrily to herself. "Sorry about that." She sighed, standing up. But as she glanced at the person she had knocked over, her eyes widened in surprise. Picking himself up off the ground before her was Adrian Pucey, who not only refused to meet her eye, but was blushing slightly. "Yeah . . . sorry." He mumbled. For a moment, Katie wondered if she should say something. Small talk seemed almost cruel, but apologizing to him didn't feel quite right either. "Um- I . . ." she trailed off, still unable to put together something to say, which was becoming an issue because he was now staring at her, awaiting her response. Katie glanced up at him, trying to think of something, anything to say. But then something caught her eye, and she nearly choked on nothing as she realized what it was. "Mistletoe…" she thought aloud, her voice just loud enough for Adrian to hear. And he too, glanced up to see that little green sprig hanging above them. She was so embarrassed at the moment, she thought she could have died. Adrian himself was blushing furiously and watching her nervously. For a moment, neither said a thing, but then, slowly and without warning, Adrian leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. Katie was so shocked she didn't move, she just stood there, wide-eyed as the Slytherin chaser kissed her under the mistletoe. When he finally pulled away, they were both bright red, and could barely look at each other. "I'll see you around." He murmured. "Y-yeah . . ."

She wandered to class in a trance, attempting with each passing second to cool her face off, but to no avail. When she finally took her seat in class beside Leanne, she believed that the heat of her face might actually light the wood of the table if she got too close. "Did you talk to Mcgonagall?" Leanne inquired. "Huh? Oh. No . . ." Katie admitted, barely caring. Leanne looked at her, now noticing the color in her face, ". . . everything alright Katie?" she asked hesitantly. "Yeah . . . I'm fine." Katie replied. Leanne looked utterly unconvinced, but before she could ask again, the teacher began talking, and Leanne was forced to ignore the wistful look on her friend's face.

* * *

At nightfall, Katie went to bed first, and pretended to be asleep so as to divert any questions from Leanne. But in reality, she was wide awake. She couldn't fall asleep even if she tried. The truth was, she couldn't get her encounter with Adrian out of her mind. She couldn't believe that after all her assertions that no boy would capture her heart just yet, that fateful spark just had to be with Adrian Pucey, of all the boys in Hogwarts, it just _had_ to be that Slytherin chaser. If anybody knew what had happened . . . well, Leanne would never let it go, and she would bet her life that her team would go mad, Oliver, she reasoned, would probably explode. Suddenly, she worried that someone may have seen them. The corridor seemed empty at the time but . . . what if someone was just around the corner? The thought terrified her so much that she was forced to push it at the back of her mind. If she just pretended it never happened, she reasoned, maybe it would just go away.

* * *

To Katie's great relief, her encounter with Adrian was never mentioned, and Adrian himself did not attempt to talk to her. By the time quidditch season started up again, she had nearly forgotten the entire incident altogether.

* * *

"Isn't it a _great_ day! Quidditch practice is back on!" Oliver breathed. His teammates rolled their eyes as they followed him out onto the pitch, but he was oblivious to their discontent, too excited to pay attention to their grumbling and muttering. Not that they weren't excited as well, but…they were probably less excited than Oliver.

Katie decided, that Oliver _must_ have been really happy though, because even though Harry was out in his own little world for most of practice, Oliver hardly scolded him. Although, it did make Katie wonder what Harry was so deep in thought about.

* * *

"My god Oliver, this is our fifth practice this week, can't you give a break?" Angelina called out after one of Oliver's slowly growing famous rants about practice. "Not a chance! We face Hufflepuff _next week_ and we _need_ to be ready!" he emphasized. The team seemed unconvinced. "Seriously Oliver, we're _exhausted_, and it's not going to help us in the game if we're all too tired to play." Katie attempted to reason with him. Her teammates muttered their agreements. Oliver, however, was now staring at her with an odd sort of concentration, leaving Katie none the wiser. After a moment or two, he broke his gaze and turned his attention back to his entire team, "We'll have plenty of time to rest before the game, but for now, we practice." That was the last word on the matter. And despite their groaning, the team obeyed.

* * *

"And remember to stay on the left hand side of the field during that third strategy of ours, or Angelina won't be able to get the quaffle to you. And remember to-"

"I remember Oliver! _Alright_? Everything will be fine, you worry too much." Katie interrupted, sipping her juice. Oliver, standing above her at the table, watched her silently for a moment, and then opened his mouth again, "Is that all you're having? You ought to eat something, you know, to keep your strength up." He informed her. Katie sighed, "Leave me alone Oliver!" she snapped. "_Fine_." He agreed, slightly annoyed by her sharp attitude towards him. And to Katie's relief, he started away, but she bristled again as he couldn't help but add as he walked away, "You really should eat something though!"

* * *

As it turned out, all of Oliver's worrying may not have been completely crazy this time around, as Snape's refereeing was completely biased against them. Regardless, Gryffindor managed to secure another victory, leaving Oliver in a temporarily blissful state that everyone was quite thankful for. That is, they were grateful for the rest of the day, after which, Oliver resumed his obsessive behavior.

* * *

"I think Wood's gone mad." Angelina was gasping for air as she took a break on the muddy floor of the quidditch pitch. Her teammates, equally starved for air, could only nod in agreement. To most people, a Saturday would mean a day of relaxation, but to Oliver Wood? No, a Saturday meant they could practice _all day long_. Never mind that it was pouring rain outside, or that the entire pitch was covered in mud. Never mind, that his teammates were chilled to the bone, soaking wet, and physically and mentally exhausted. Because to Oliver Wood, that just meant they were building up their strength.

"Oh lord here he comes." Alicia moaned as Oliver landed nearby, and began heading towards them. "What's everybody standing around for?" He asked, nearly having to scream to be heard over the rain. "We're _exhausted_ Wood! Give us a _break_!" Angelina yelled out. Oliver scanned the group, he actually seemed to be considering it, "Well- alright then, 5 minute break? But then we're back on the field." His team groaned.

* * *

"I swear, Wood's lost all sense, I mean, how does he expect us to _win_, if we're all _dead_?" George inquired, rubbing the rather large bruise on his arm. "He's a nutter, that's for sure." Fred moaned, lying across one of the locker room benches. The rest of the team was scattered about the locker room, sopping wet and covered head to two in mud, but too tired to bother with the showers. "Well, he never asks us to do anything he wouldn't do himself," Harry piped up, "I mean, he practiced just as long as we did, and now he's still out there putting the equipment away." The team glanced around at each other briefly. For a while, nobody said anything, but finally, Angelina piped up, "Alright then, I think the tiny shred of guilt that we're still capable of feeling for Wood has set in, so who's going to go help him round up the gear?" Once again, no one spoke, they merely looked around the room.

". . . I think we all have to go." Alicia murmured. The team all groaned, but couldn't argue with her. Reluctantly, they all trudged out onto the field to find Oliver wrestling with a bludger. "Move it Wood." Fred and George shoved Oliver out of the way, grabbing the bludger themselves to force it back into the chest. Oliver awkwardly stood up, brushing some of the larger chunks of mud off of his robes. "Thanks." He gave a nod. While Fred and George were occupied, Angelina and Alicia went after the other bludger, which was still zipping around. Katie assisted Harry in locating the snitch while Wood took a short breather. After all of the quidditch balls were safely locked away in the chest, Oliver and Angelina carried it back to put it away, the rest of the team followed. Soon, they were all back in the locker rooms, Oliver included. "Well, I think that went well." Oliver admitted, removing his protective padding as the rest of the team lied half-dead throughout the room. Fred and George both turned to him with scowls on their faces, "Shut up Wood."

* * *

Katie sat in the bleachers, Leanne at her side as they awaited the start of the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin match. "Is this the last match of the season?" Leanne inquired as the teams entered the pitch. "No, our team plays Ravenclaw in a couple weeks." Katie replied, her eyes glued to Madam Hooch as the snitch and bludgers were released. Finally, the quaffle was tossed up into the air and the game began. "Oh, there goes your 'almost beau' Leanne teased, hitting Katie's arm playfully as Adrian swooped by, quaffle in hand. But Leanne was surprised when a blush spread across Katie's face. "Katie?" Leanne's cheerful expression twisted into one of confusion. "What?" Katie snapped, attempting hide her face with her hair. "Katie, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Katie's reply came out shaky and unconvincing. Suddenly, Leanne gasped. Katie's eyes snapped up to meet hers in horror, she dearly hoped that Leanne had not jumped to the correct conclusion. "Are you two _dating_, have you been _dating_ and _not_ told me! You sneak!" she slapped Katie's arm. "No! No! Absolutely not!" Katie insisted, her face turning an even brighter shade of red. "Oh. . ." Leanne's expression fell, "But there is _something_ you're not telling me, isn't there?" she raised her eyebrows expectantly. ". . . no." Katie averted her gaze. "There _is_! Tell me! Tell me right now!" Leanne's eyes had gone wild. "Shush! Quiet down! People are staring!" Katie yelled. Leanne obediently calmed. And Katie hoped that it meant she was letting it go. Leanne leaned towards her, "This isn't over. We'll talk about this later." And she said it so sternly, that Katie couldn't find any words to argue.

* * *

When they returned to the dorms, Katie was, for the very first time, grateful that her other roommates were there, because that meant postponing their conversation. Leanne, however, had different plans, and dragged Katie around the school until they found an empty corridor. "Alright then, spill." Leanne ordered. "Here?" Katie glanced around, "But someone could come around the corner any moment."

"Just get on with it Katie!"

"Okay, okay fine." Katie took a deep breath, calming herself, "Okay, it was back in December-"

"_December_?!" Leanne shouted, her eyes wide with shock.

"Shush!" Katie ordered, "Yes, December. I was walking down the corridor alone for…some reason I can't recall. But I was in hurry, and so I was running, and while I was running, I ran into Adrian. I mean, I literally _ran into him_, it knocked us both over." Katie took another breath, "When we got up, we realized that we . . . we, uh," she lowered her voice and leaned in, Leanne followed suite, "We realized that we were under the mistletoe." Leanne's jaw dropped, "You snogged Adrian Pucey!" she announced. Katie turned a bright red and smacked Leanne as she violently shushed her. "Be quiet! Someone could _hear_ you!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking. "Sorry, sorry…I was just really surprised," a playful smile played across Leanne's face. Katie was staring at nothing in particular, her arms folded protectively across her chest and her cheeks a rosy red. "So . . .did you . . . you know?" Leanne wondered. Katie looked at her, "Did I what?"

"Did you enjoy it?" Leanne raised her eyebrows expectantly. Katie blushed even deeper, and though she opened her mouth to respond, no words came out. Leanne grinned, "You _did_!" she exclaimed, "Well, why don't you date him then?!" she asked in disbelief. "Because!" Katie exploded, "He's a horrid person! And it doesn't matter what I _felt_, because I _know_ I don't want to be involved with him!" Leanne sighed, "Alright then, let's think about this. Adrian Pucey, he's a third year, so about our age. He's a chaser on a house quidditch team-"

"The _Slytherin_ quidditch team!"

"-so he obviously likes quidditch, he's got decent intelligence-"

Katie gave a scoff.

"-_and_, he's not so bad looking either." Leanne raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"That doesn't matter! He's a _bully_ and a _cheat_ and he's-"

"from Slytherin?" Leanne finished knowingly.

"No! Well- yes, but I mean . . . that's not _why . . . _" Katie trailed off, any words she had been thinking of dying in the back of her throat.

"Then what _is_ the reason, I mean, you say he's a bully and a cheat but what has he ever done to you, _really_?"

"He's done _plenty_." Katie insisted, her eyes narrowing.

"Like what? Give me an example." Leanne folded her arms across her chest, waiting patiently for her response. "Like . . . like . . . well, he . . ." Katie trailed off, for some reason, nothing came to mind. In fact, when she thought of Adrian Pucey, all she could remember was their moment under the mistletoe.

"He . . . kissed me . . ." Katie relaxed, and let out a sigh, her eyes gazing off into the distance. Leanne smiled, nodding to herself. Katie sighed again.

"I-I can't." she shook her head, falling out of her daze. Leanne wilted, "Why not?" she whined. "Because! Because it just _wouldn't work_, he still associates with those…_morons_, and they'd torture me over it. And then there's _my_ team, who'd never let me hear the end of it, and then there's-" Leanne raised her eyebrows, and when Katie still didn't continue, leaned forward to encourage her, "…and then there's?" Leanne repeated. Katie was starting at the ground, her mouth opened and closed a couple of times as she tried to figure out what to say, "Nobody-I mean . . . there's nothing. It's just _his team_ and _my team_ and-"

"And _Oliver_?" Leanne finished, eyeing her friend skeptically. Katie rolled her eyes. "_Yes_, okay? _Yes_, there's Oliver. And don't turn this into something it's not!" she snapped, "Because Oliver would absolutely throw a _fit_ if anybody on the team even _thought_ about dating someone from the Slytherin team- or any other team actually but _especially_ Slytherin."

"You can't revolve your entire life around quidditch Katie! Wood's your _captain_, not your _mum_!" Leanne yelled, her voice filled with exasperation. Katie took a deep, shaky breath, and shook her head. "I barely know him anyways." She muttered, and walked away. Leanne sighed, "What are you going to do Katie," she called after her, "what are you going to do if you meet the man of your dreams and _Oliver Wood_ doesn't approve?"

* * *

"Hey! Sorry I'm late!" Katie yelled, rushing onto the pitch, broom in hand. It took a moment before Oliver noticed her, but when he did, he flew down to meet her. "You're late!" he repeated. "I know, I'm sorry." Katie replied. "_Why_ are you late?" Oliver inquired, eyeing her suspiciously. Katie paused, attempting to find a way to phrase her response, 'I overslept', in a way that wouldn't make Oliver explode. Deciding that it couldn't be done, she instead, gave a nervous smile and shrugged. Oliver groaned and shook his head, "Fine, you know what? Fine, whatever," his voice lowered to a murmur, "Should've expected this . . ." Katie's brow furrowed, "What?"

"Nothing," Oliver waved her off, "Just, just go with others." Katie didn't argue, and decided to put Oliver's strange comment out of her mind.

Putting it out of her mind didn't necessarily work as well as she'd hoped. Oliver stared at her multiple times during practice, and on more than one occasion he seemed to be muttering under his breath. And finally, when, for a moment, she was lost in her thoughts, (the fault of Oliver's own odd behavior) she missed a pass from Angelina, which threw Oliver into such a fit that the rest of the team actually stared at him in shock. After that, he ignored her for the rest of practice.

By the time practice ended, Katie was so irritated, that she decided she had to confront him. She waited around until everyone else had left. It took Oliver so long to emerge, that she suspected he was taking so long on purpose, just to avoid her. But she had plenty of patience and waited until he walked out of the locker rooms. Once he spotted her, he slowed his pace considerably, and by the time he reached her, Katie was angrier than ever. When he attempted to pass her by, she finally snapped. "Hey! _What_ is your problem?!" she yelled. Oliver stopped, looking more than a little taken aback by her temper. "What?"

"You heard me! What's your problem?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yes you do!" Katie insisted, growing more frustrated with each passing second, "First it was the weird little comment when I was late, and then you were acting all mental during practice!"

"Well excuse me if I'm a little put off by you snogging the enemy!" he snapped. It was Katie's turn to be taken aback, all she could do was stare at him in absolute shock, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open like an idiot. Oliver stared at her briefly, but when she didn't respond he turned away, pacing a little in front of her with his eyes downcast.

"Y-you . . . you heard about that?" her voice was so quiet she wondered if he had heard her. But Oliver stopped his pacing and turned to face her, his eyes still glued to the ground. "I saw you." He admitted. Katie thought she would die right then and there. Of everyone at Hogwarts, it just _had_ to be Oliver who saw, anybody else would have been bad, Oliver was catastrophic. Katie closed her eyes, and slowly tried to count to ten, she took deep breaths, anything to calm herself. Finally, she opened her eyes and looked up at Oliver, who was now watching her hesitantly. "Why didn't you say anything?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

Oliver rubbed the back of his head nervously, his eyes moving to the ground once again, "First off I knew it was the mistletoe, I mean . . . I was a little upset, sure. But I knew it wasn't your fault."

Katie let out a shaky breath. "But then," Oliver began slowly, "I saw that boy who had been following you talking to him in the hallway, and suddenly I remembered that thing he said about his friend wanting to date you."

Katie held her breath again. "It made me wonder, you know?" Oliver glanced at her briefly to gauge her reaction, "But I figured it was all in my head and I let it go again." He sighed, "And then, just the other day, I heard you and your friend talking about it in the corridor."

"You heard us? How much?" Katie's eyes snapped up to meet his, she was in absolute panic at this point. "Uh, well…I think I walked in right around-I was just walking down the hall when I came upon you two. I heard the voices and recognized yours and just sort of stopped right around the corner." He sighed, "But I think I came in right around the part when you were talking about _his_ team, and _your_ team, and whatnot."

Katie moaned, "Oh, you were the _last_ person I would have ever wanted to hear that."

"Yeah, I gathered that." Oliver let out another sigh.

"But you should know then that I'm not dating him, and I don't plan too." Katie insisted.

"I know, but that fact that you actually _considered . . . _that you actually _liked_ one of _them_ is just, quite disturbing actually." Oliver let out a breath. "And then when you were late to practice today I just lost it. For a minute there I thought maybe you were ditching out on practice to spend time with him."

"Oliver," Katie giggled suddenly, causing Oliver's gaze to jump back up to her face, "I _overslept_, geez," this revelation seemed to ease Oliver's worries, as a smile spread across his face as well, "and you know, I mean…yeah there was that 'spark' I guess you would say with Pucey, but he isn't really my type." She sighed. Oliver raised a skeptic eyebrow.

"Oh really? And what exactly _is_, 'your type'?" he inquired. Katie glanced at his expectant face, and inhaled, "Well . . . I mean, someone who loves quidditch, obviously. Somebody I find attractive,"

"I don't see where Pucey doesn't fit into this." Oliver admitted, only half joking.

"Well, I mean, sure Pucey's on the quidditch team and sure he's…sort of good looking," she shot Oliver a look as he let out a laugh, "but he's not exactly the smartest guy around, I mean, he's not _stupid_, but he's not particularly intelligent. And he's not really…ambitious, you know? I mean, I want somebody who really goes after what they want." Katie sighed, "And plus, I'd never be very comfortable going out with someone my friends despised or didn't trust."

Oliver nodded, "Yeah, I can see that." They stood in silence for a few brief moments. "Well, had I not heard it with my own ears I never would've believed it." Oliver smiled. "Believed what?" Katie inquired, growing confused again. Oliver shot her a glance, "Katie Bell: Heartbreaker." Katie rolled her eyes. "Oh please." And she began walking down the pitch. Oliver chased after, laughing to himself, "Oh come on now, I was only joking."

* * *

"The hospital wing?!" Katie spat out. Fred and George nodded hopelessly. "Wood just told us," Angelina explained. "He looked about to throw up when he did, too." Fred added. "He's over there right now, moping." George gestured across the locker rooms where, true to his word, Oliver sat, his head hung in a depressed looking state. "So . . . what do we do then?" Katie asked. "We play the best we can without him." Oliver piped up. "Without a seeker?" Alicia asked in disbelief. Oliver sighed, "It's all we _can_ do."

* * *

"Oliver looked about ready to kill himself." Katie informed her friend. "Well, I'm sure you're all disappointed," Leanne replied, "And he _is_ the captain so . . ."

"No," Katie cut her off, "this goes way past regular captain stuff. He's _obsessed_, I swear. I think that Oliver ranks losing the quidditch cup right up there with getting stabbed in the face. Or maybe above that actually."

"I think you're exaggerating a bit." Leanne giggled, reaching across the table to grab some more food. "That's the sad thing, _I'm really not_." Leanne laughed again, but didn't argue this time. "Well, he's quite the character then, isn't he?" she grinned, sipping her pumpkin juice. Katie laughed, "Oh, you have _no idea_."

* * *

Maybe it was her imagination, but Katie could have sworn she heard something downstairs. And after about half an hour of quiet thumps and un-resting curiosity, Katie decided to ignore the late hour. She pulled herself out of bed as quietly as she could, and tried to open the door without letting in too much of the light in the common room. After closing the door as carefully as possible, she headed down the stairs, where a familiar anxious figure came into focus.

"Oliver?" Katie said groggily. Oliver looked up, he was sitting at a table covered in papers with only soft light of the fireplace for company. "Katie, I didn't know you were up." He seemed surprised to see her. Katie noted that he too, was in his pajamas, though unlike her, he appeared to be wide awake. "I heard something." Katie replied, reaching the bottom of the stairs. Oliver slowly turned in his seat, now facing her. "Oh . . . sorry."

"What are you doing up so late?" she inquired, settling herself on the couch, and curling her legs into her for comfort. Oliver sighed, "Working on quidditch plays." He admitted sheepishly, gesturing towards his papers. "But the season's over."

"For next year." He corrected. Katie rolled her eyes, "You are unbelievable."

"It's just that this year was such a disappointment." Oliver admitted, half turning back to his papers to scribble something down. "Yeah, sorry about that." Katie mumbled, though she wasn't quite sure exactly what she was apologizing for.

"No, it was nothing the team did wrong." Oliver replied, setting down his quill and turning back to her, "We have the greatest team Hogwarts has seen in years, I _know_ it." Katie smiled a little as that familiar excited spark appeared in his eyes, "It was just dreadful luck that lost us the cup. But with proper planning for next year, we'll win. We'll definitely win, I mean, just look at who we've got!" Katie giggled a little as Oliver's excitement mounted, though he didn't seem to notice how entertained she was, he was caught up in his own little world, "We've got a _magnificent _seeker, the best Hogwarts has _ever seen_ I daresay, and only 11 at that. We've got two _superb_ beaters, who _could not_ be more in sync! And, we've got three positively _amazing_ chasers," Oliver shot her smile that had Katie in giggles again, "who are fast, smart, and can certainly take a beating." Katie grinned at the compliments. "Put that all together, and we've got a swell team…" he trailed off, "better than swell." Katie's smile faltered a little, "What about our keeper?" she asked. Oliver shrugged, the spark in his eyes fading a little as he smiled embarrassedly and eyed the floor, playing with his hands as he did so. "Well . . . he's nothing to write home about really." Katie gaped at him, "Oh _please_ Oliver, you're spectacular! The first time I saw you I was dreadfully impressed." Oliver smiled a little, still looking embarrassed. "Really?"

"Really!" Katie insisted, "I can't believe you would ever think otherwise." Oliver shrugged, "Well . . ." Katie smiled, "You're a good captain Oliver," he glanced up at her, looking a little flattered, "You're a little intense sometimes," she admitted, causing Oliver to chuckle , "But you're a good captain." They shared an awkward smile, neither speaking for the next couple of minutes. Finally, Oliver averted his gaze, and nervously scratched the back of his head, "How old are you again?"

"I'm in my second year." Katie replied. "Right, right I knew that . . ." Oliver nodded, talking mostly to himself. "Why?" Katie wondered, relaxing in the couch cushions. Oliver inhaled, "Nothing, just . . . sometimes I forget how old you are." Katie's brow furrowed in confusion, and Oliver looked back up at her, "You're kind of . . ." he shrugged, "mature." Katie's eyes widened as a barely hidden smile played across her lips, "I'm going to take that as a compliment." She announced. Oliver smiled, "Good, it was one." They chuckled a little at that, and that chuckling soon turned into laughing, until finally they were struggling to keep their voices down. And for the first time, Katie thought that with summer approaching, she might just miss Oliver Wood, but only a little.


	3. Third Year

"Katie!"

"Leanne!"

The two girls rushed to meet each other, before catching one another in a warm embrace. This was followed by excited chatter about summer vacation, and their hopes and doubts for the new year. "I know what you want already," Leanne rolled her eyes, "to 'win the quidditch cup,' you'll never change." Katie glared at her, "Well, what exactly do _you_ plan to do this year?"

"Same as always," Leanne shrugged, "Study, talk with friends . . . maybe . . . perhaps . . . get a boyfriend."

"I _knew_ it!" Katie exclaimed, leaving Leanne with a slightly embarrassed look on her face, "Anybody in mind?" Katie waggled her eyebrows suggestively, giggling at Leanne's annoyed expression.

"No one in _particular_, but – you know, it's a big school." Leanne explained, she continued on to talk about a boy from last year she had thought might like her, but wasn't quite sure if he was her type exactly, or if he even still liked her. Katie was trying to pay attention, truly she was, but when they entered the great hall still discussing the boy, somebody caught her eye. And before she could stop herself, she called out to him, "Oliver!" she exclaimed. When he turned around, she was instantly embarrassed at her outburst, and even more so when he headed over to talk to her, a wide grin on his face. He didn't even seem to the notice the surprised and giddy looks Leanne was sending the both of them.

"Katie! You had a good summer I presume?" he asked. Katie nodded slowly, attempting to ignore the looks from Leanne, "Yes, very good, and you?"

"It was alright," he shrugged, "But it's exciting to be back, you know, quidditch practice starts soon." He informed her, his face lighting up at the very thought. Katie laughed a little, "Yeah, I know." They stood there awkwardly for a minute or two with Leanne eagerly awaiting their next words, until finally, Katie, eager to eliminate the nosy glances from her friend, broke the silence. "So, I'll see you at practice then." She did her best to seem pleasant. Oliver smiled, "Yeah, see you then." They both gave a curt nod and a little polite wave, and then awkwardly attempted to pass each other. By the time she and Leanne took their seats, she looked absolutely delighted. "_What_ was _that_?!" she asked excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. "That was Oliver Wood." Kate replied nonchalantly. "No!" Leanne's shook her head, "That funny dance you two were doing around each other," her eyes narrowed suddenly, "are you hiding something from me again?" she asked suspiciously. "No! Absolutely not. That was just me, saying hello to my quidditch captain after a long absence." Katie informed her calmly. Leanne rolled her eyes, "Yeah right." She murmured. Katie shot her a look, but her friend was already preoccupied with the food sitting before her.

* * *

"Alright then! First practice of the new season." Oliver took a deep breath, trying to soak in every glorious part of this moment, "It feels good to be back." He announced, mostly to himself. His teammates exchanged joking smiles and quiet giggles as they followed their devoted captain onto the pitch. There practice went as well at it ever had, though with the fresh start of the year the team seemed far more eager to go along with Oliver's rules. Katie guessed that they too, were excited to get back to the game, she certainly was.

* * *

A couple weeks into practice sessions, and the team's initial persistence was beginning to fade, replaced with the familiar aches and groans of reluctance. But despite the complaining, everyone knew it was only half-hearted, after all, who could be on the team and not love quidditch?

On one fairly relaxing day, when the weather was good and the Oliver seemed to yell just a little less than usual, Katie was settling into her pace when something interrupted her confidence. In the bleachers sat a pretty-faced girl with a short blonde bob and long eye lashes, and though she looked the sort to not be much of a quidditch fan, her eyes were glued to the game, even though the girls that Katie presumed to be her friends were giggling to each other off to the side, completely disinterested.

"You don't think she's looking at Fred, do you? Angelina will have a fit." Alicia observed, steadying herself in the air beside Katie. Katie giggled, "Better be quiet, she'll have a fit if she hears you as well." Both girls smiled at this comment, and barely cared when Oliver called out to them to pay attention.

The girl was at the back of Katie's mind for the rest of practice as she continued to wonder what she was doing there. There was the off chance, of course, that the girl just liked quidditch. But Katie had an inkling that there was something else afoot.

Her assumptions were proven correct when, as she exited the locker rooms following practice, she spotted the girl waiting near the entrance. Her friends, once again, were chattering a short distance away. But the real shock came when Oliver exited the locker rooms, as he walked by, he actually appeared to recognize her, and they left the pitch together. Katie watched in awe as Oliver politely carried the conversation along while the girl smiled and blushed at his comments. She must have been quite shocked indeed, because she didn't even notice as Angelina and Alicia came up to stand on either side of her.

"Ooh, tough luck Katie." Alicia sighed. Katie was surprised to see her friends there all of a sudden, but quickly recovered. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, it looks like Oliver's found himself a girl." Alicia explained. "Well, we don't know that for sure." Angelina corrected. "What are you two talking about?" Katie inquired, genuinely confused. The girls both stared at her in surprise, "Well, we figured you'd be upset." Alicia replied. Katie was taken aback, "_Upset_, why ever would you think that?" Angelina and Alicia exchanged looks, "No reason." Angelina shrugged. "We'll see you later Katie." Alicia waved, and she and Angelina left the pitch whispering to each other, leaving Katie more confused than ever.

* * *

Katie thought nothing of it at first. Well, at first she assumed it was just a very forward fan girl. But as she began to see her around Oliver more and more, she grew more skeptical of this theory.

"Is she here _again_?" Fred exclaimed in disbelief. The rest of the team glanced at the bleachers, were true to his word, the girl sat, watching their practice. "I can't believe this," George announced, "All this time she spends at the pitch, the least she could do is watch _all_ of us." The girls all rolled their eyes. Oliver, who was not privy to this particular conversation, began shouting at them from the hoops.

But the topic did not die there, after practice, the twins began chattering about her again. "Do you reckon Oliver's snogged her yet?" Fred inquired. "Oh, do be a bit more sensitive dear brother, Miss Bell's still present." George grinned. Katie whipped around to face them, "What is _that_ supposed to mean?" she snapped. The twins grinned at one another, "Nothing." They chorused. Katie looked over at Angelina and Alicia, who averted their eyes at her gaze. "No, this happened before, too. What are you all implying?" she folded her arms across her chest and raised her eyebrows, determined to get a response out of them. While George and Fred mimicked her, crossing their own arms, Angelina and Alicia slowly turned to face her. "Well . . ." Angelina began slowly. "It's just that . . ." Alicia trailed off. "You've got it bad." Fred blurted out. George leaned forward, "_Real bad_."

"I've got _what_ bad?" she inquired, growing more irritated by the second. She glanced around the room, but nobody responded. Finally, Angelina stepped forward, "Well . . . we all know that you've always sort of had a . . . had a thing for Oliver." She admitted hesitantly. Katie's jaw dropped, "You _cannot_ be serious." To her great shock, they all nodded. But before she had a chance to defend herself, Oliver entered the locker room, cutting their conversation short, and leaving Katie steaming.

* * *

"The _nerve_ of them! To imply that I have _any_ sort of feelings at all for him!" Katie was practically shaking with fury as she paced back and forth. Leanne watched her silently, seeming perfectly content with her spot on her Katie's bedspread. "Well, can you blame them?" Leanne shrugged, "I mean…you've always shown an interest in him."

"Because he's my _friend_!" Katie turned on her, "He's an excellent quidditch player, he's my captain, _and_ he's my _friend_! It's perfectly natural for me to associate with him! Everyone's making too big a deal out of a little chatter!" Katie insisted. Leanne raised her eyebrows, "Are you _sure_?"

Katie sighed and fell down beside Leanne on the bed. "_Positive_!" There was a brief silence, where Leanne's question lingered in the air.

"I mean…it's not like I haven't _thought_ about it." Katie admitted, sitting up on the bed, "I'm well aware that he's 'my type', so to speak," Katie used air quotes, and then dropped her hands to her sides, sighing as she fell back onto the bed, "But there's just no . . . "

"No spark?" Leanne sighed, letting herself fall back onto the bed beside Katie. "Yeah." Both girls sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "It's too bad," Leanne began slowly, "You two would've made a cute couple." Katie rolled her eyes as they both burst into a fit of giggles.

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, Katie threw herself into her studies, and her quidditch practices, completely forgetting about Oliver and his potential girl. Oliver and the girl were thrown even further to the back of her mind when the Chamber of Secrets scandal hit come Halloween time.

But eventually, their first match came along, and of course, the girl attended the match. But still, Katie did not notice her. And when they won, and when Harry was taken up to the hospital wing when that idiot teacher accidentally removed all of the bones in his arm, Katie, of course, did not notice her. But when the team headed off to visit Harry in the hospital wing, and the girl ran out and threw her arms around Oliver, shouting her congratulations, Katie _did_ notice her. She noticed her very much. And to make matters worse, the rest of the team noticed her noticing.

But without even realizing it herself, Katie bristled when the girl pulled away from Oliver, but allowed her arms to linger around his waist. And she didn't breathe when the girl leaned into him, giggling at something he had said. And finally, when the girl ran her hand down his arm, Katie jumped forward, "Wood! Let's go, we wouldn't want to keep Harry waiting!" she called out. The girl eyed her suspiciously, but Oliver didn't seem to notice a thing. He didn't hesitate to pull away from the girl as he remembered their task, "Oh, of course, let's get a move on then." And he gestured for the rest of the team to follow him. Katie followed behind embarrassedly, she could practically feel the gazes of her teammates and the girl as she walked by.

* * *

"So…who's that girl?" Katie asked, trying to appear uncaring as she did so. But Oliver seemed completely confused by her question, "What girl?" They sat alone in the Gryffindor common room, having a conversation by the fire not un-reminiscent of the previous year.

"The cute blonde you've been hanging around with." She replied. It took another moment for the question to sink in, but soon Oliver's face dawned in realization, and he quickly looked away from her, "Oh, you mean Eleanor?"

"Is that her name?" Katie inquired. Oliver nodded, "Yeah, she's a fourth year." Katie's brow furrowed, "Seems a little young for you," Katie strained herself to make her tone sound joking, and she forced out a smile. Oliver glanced at her, his face unreadable, "You think so?" Katie's breath caught in her throat, and she couldn't respond. After a moment Oliver looked away. He shrugged, "She doesn't know much about quidditch." He laughed nervously. Katie watched as his joking expression faded, and his eyes glazed over.

* * *

When Katie rounded the corner, and found the girl-Eleanor-directly in her face, she'd admit that she was a little frightened by her sudden appearance, she would _not_ admit, that she squealed a little in surprise when Eleanor caught her off guard. "I need to talk to you." Eleanor informed her, no reasoning in her voice. Katie slowly nodded. Eleanor turned swiftly on her heel and walked confidently down the hallway, not doubting that Katie would be following her. She led her to an empty classroom, and after they were both safely inside, Eleanor closed the door securely behind them before turning the face the young chaser. "Do you like Oliver?" she inquired. Katie breathed deeply, "Wow, you get straight to the point, don't you?" she attempted to lighten the mood with a chuckle. Eleanor, however, did not seem amused, "Do you?" she repeated, her eyes narrowing as he drew closer to Katie. Katie's eyes widened, "Uh . . . well – no, not exactly."

"_Not exactly_? What does that mean?" Eleanor inquired.

"Nothing, it means 'no'." Katie replied. Eleanor eyed her skeptically, but when Katie showed no change in expression, she relented. Eleanor let out a sigh of relief, and nearly collapsed into one of the classroom chairs. "Are you alright?" Katie asked hesitantly. Eleanor laughed a little, "I'm fine, I'm…quite relieved actually." She admitted. Katie's brow furrowed in confusion, and she nervously took the seat beside Eleanor. "Why?"

"Well because," Eleanor began slowly, "Out on the pitch the other day it seemed – well, it seemed like you liked him." She shrugged. Katie, more out of amazement than anything, smiled.

"Well . . . even if I _did_ like him, why should you care?"

"Because _I_ like him," Eleanor replied as though it should be obvious, and actually, it was obvious. Katie had expected this answer, but for some reason she felt slightly nauseous upon hearing it. "And…I mean, if _you_ had said you liked him, well, I can't compete with you." She admitted, her voice growing soft. Katie stared at her in shock, "Don't be ridiculous! Look at you! You're so pretty and charming, why would you ever have to worry about me?"

"You're pretty Katie," Eleanor said, smiling slightly, "and you're an excellent quidditch player, and I'm sure you're smart and funny as well." She shrugged, she almost seemed to be admitting defeat as she sighed, "And I know that he positively adores you."

"Don't be stupid!" Katie snapped, "Oliver's fond of everyone on his team, that's just the way he is." She assured her, "And besides that, I'm _thirteen_, what would Oliver ever want with _me_?" she joked. Both girls giggled slightly, "Well, that's not very helpful, I'm fourteen." Eleanor admitted. "Sure," Katie began slowly, "but one year can make a big difference."

* * *

A few days later, Katie caught Oliver and Eleanor snogging in an empty corridor, and wondered vaguely if, with all this nausea, she was falling ill.

* * *

"Is he alright?" Eleanor asked slowly as she, Katie and Leanne looked on at a half-dead Oliver on the common room couch. "He's probably having a heart attack." Katie murmured. But when she saw the concerned look on Eleanor's face, she toned it down, "He'll be fine, it's best to just leave him alone for now."

"But what's wrong with him?" Eleanor inquired. "Quidditch matches are cancelled," Leanne muttered. Eleanor seemed shocked by this answer, "Is that all?"

"Is that _all_?!" Leanne repeated in disbelief, "In case you haven't _noticed_, when it comes to quidditch he's more than a bit obsessed." Eleanor paused, considering the statement, "Well…he does talk about it an awful lot." She admitted. They all turned their attention to the groaning lump on the couch that was the great Gryffindor quidditch captain, Oliver Wood.

"Is he _really_ more upset about the quidditch matches being cancelled than he is about those students being petrified?" Eleanor inquired. Katie sighed, "Don't even ask."

* * *

Oliver's swirling depression concerning the quidditch matches was beginning to become an issue. Well, it had already been an issue, but it had become _more_ of an issue, especially concerning one particularly annoyed Katie Bell.

This was because Oliver, too wrapped up in his own affairs, was beginning to further neglect Eleanor, his girlfriend in the loosest terms. Eleanor, in turn had been complaining not only to her own friends, but to those she felt she could relate too, who she also deemed to know Oliver best. Namely, the three chasers of Gryffindor's quidditch team. And while Angelina and Alicia did their best to assure Eleanor that 'that's just the way he is', Katie's patience with Eleanor was wearing thin. Her life did not revolve around Oliver Wood, and hearing things about him that she already knew every second of every day, was beginning to grow tiresome.

"-and all he does is mope around! I mean, I'm his _girlfriend_, one would assume that he might, hmm, I don't know! Be _attracted_ to me?" Eleanor stopped her pacing to flop herself down on the common room couch, "Or at least enough so to snog every once in a-"

"Well!" Katie swiftly interrupted before the conversation grew too graphic for her tastes. She didn't really want to imagine Oliver . . . doing that . . . with her. Blech. "You know, Oliver's _entire life_ is quidditch," Katie attempted to find a way to put it that might help Eleanor understand, "He's just – it's just such so important to him that sometimes he has a hard time focusing on anything else . . . " Katie forced a laugh to lighten the mood, "It's a miracle he manages to get his studies done, really." But Katie's nervous laughter died when Eleanor did nothing but let her eyes glaze over. "Sometimes I wonder if he really even likes me at all." She muttered. Katie paused, watching the forlorn expression on Eleanor's face.

"Well . . . he wouldn't date you if he didn't like you." Katie shrugged, unable to think of anything else to say. Eleanor looked at her, and Katie shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "We don't talk much." Eleanor admitted. Katie was speechless. They sat there for a moment with their eyes locked together, until Eleanor averted her gaze, and continued, "I mean . . . there's not much to talk about really. We don't have anything in common." Katie was about to point out that it was hard to have the common interest, 'totally obsessed with quidditch' but Eleanor cut her off, "And it's not just quidditch." Katie closed her mouth. "Well- it _is_ quidditch, but it's more than that. Even when he's not talking about quidditch, he's smarter than me," she smiled sadly, her eyes downcast, "When he talks about schoolwork . . . or, even when he's just _talking_, like his sense of humor, or little references he makes during conversations. And he's _so_ dedicated, you know? When he decides he's going to do something he _really_ does it. And me? I'm just happy to get a passing grade. And me and _my_ friends are always talking about stupid things like- make up, and clothes, and," she scoffed, "_boys_. And . . . when I'm around Oliver, it just all seems so _stupid_." Eleanor let out a shaky sigh.

Katie watched her, completely silent. She knew what she meant, Oliver may not seem like the most charming guy at first, hell, at first glance, he usually seemed completely disinterested in just about _everything_. He would come at you with an emotionless expression, and speak frankly to you. Which…Katie supposed, might have its own sort of charm, one she hadn't noticed before. Nonetheless, it was no surprise that this girl might have suspected him to be a good boyfriend. Because on paper, Oliver was a perfect choice. He was athletic, sort of successful- within school at least, (quidditch captain), not bad looking, pretty smart, friendly, and he was certainly loyal. But he was not so attractive, and popular that there would be a lot of competition for him. All these qualities lined up would make him seem like the ideal boyfriend. But Oliver was also obsessive, single-minded, stubborn, and almost always in the extreme, he was either dead serious, or wildly excited. And while these traits made him an amazing quidditch captain, it also made him a lousy boyfriend.

"Maybe…" Eleanor began slowly, snapping Katie out of her thoughts, "maybe we're just no good together." And Katie could think of nothing to say.

* * *

"They _broke up_?!" Katie exclaimed, "_Already_?" her conversation with Eleanor had been just the other day. Alicia nodded, "She dumped him this morning." Katie's jaw fell in shock. This was when Angelina walked over, plunking herself down beside Katie on the common room couch, "It's not surprising actually," she began, picking at her nails, "All of Oliver's relationships have been short lived." Katie's face snapped over to Angelina, who was sitting on her other side, her eyes wide, "This has happened _before_?!"

"It's the third time, I think." Alicia corrected. Katie turned to Alicia, "When was _this_?!"

"The first was before you were on the team," Angelina looked up, "And the other was last year."

"_Last year_?!" Katie whipped back to Angelina. "It's no surprise you didn't notice," Alicia assured her, "Oliver tends to keep his love life and his quidditch life separate. Eleanor would be the exception." Katie turned back to her, too shocked to utter a word. "Though . . . now that I think of it," Angelina considered, "There may have been one other girl before we were on the team Alicia."

"Oh yeah . . . I think you're right." Alicia nodded. Katie, worn out, fell back onto one of the benches with a groan. Alicia looked over at Angelina, "I think it's too much for her to take in."

"What are you three doing?" All three girls jumped slightly at the sudden entrance of Oliver Wood. The girls all turned to look at Oliver, staring at him blankly. Katie searched his face for signs of heartbreak, but he seemed just as normal as ever. Oliver's brow furrowed in confusion, "What is it? Have I got something on my face?" When nobody said anything, Oliver hesitantly reached up and wiped some sort of imaginary substance off of his cheek. "There's nothing on your face." Katie assured him. This only served to make Oliver even more confused, "Then what is it?" Again, the girls said nothing. Finally, Katie stood up, and the rest of the girls followed suit. "It's nothing." Katie replied, and they all filed out of the common room, leaving Oliver standing there, more confused than ever.

* * *

Without quidditch practice, Katie found that she saw her teammates far less. Any passing thoughts she may have had about Oliver quickly vanished, and she began to focus more on her classes. Without her teammates around to occupy her time, she also began spending the majority of her free time with Leanne. Her life settled into a quiet mediocrity.

On one particularly warm spring day, Katie was wandering the grounds looking for something to occupy her time, when suddenly a thought occurred to her. Quidditch was cancelled. No one would be using the field. Technically, she wasn't supposed to use the field without a teacher's permission, but really, who else would be out there practicing when there was nothing to practice for? Now very excited, Katie headed towards the pitch. She was confident that no one would question her intentions, but nonetheless attempted to remain a low profile as she walked towards the field, especially when teachers happened to wander by. The closer she drew to the field, the more excited to she became, and the faster she walked. Soon enough, she had broken into a sprint. She barreled across the grass towards the pitch, watching the entrance as she drew closer to it. When she was finally standing right before the field, she stopped to catch her breath. She smiled to herself, eager for her solo practice. I wouldn't be quite as fun as normal practice, she admitted. After all, there would be no one to toss the quaffle around with, no one to playfully banter with. No Oliver Wood breathing down her neck. If she was being honest, she missed the practices dearly. Of course she missed playing quidditch, but she also missed her team, who she now hardly saw. Angelina and Alicia had been so sweet to her from day one. Fred and George could be annoying, but they were always cheerful and good for a laugh, and they never really meant any harm. Harry, who had been so quiet at first, had quickly become a valued member of the team. She even missed Oliver, who was certainly more fun out of practice than in it, and even then he was pretty stiff. But even so, she missed her friends.

She was just reflecting on these thoughts when she walked through the entrance and onto the field. However, as Katie wandered in, she was so deeply embedded in her nostalgia that she neglected to notice the loose bludger speeding towards her. The bludger slammed into her legs, throwing her off balance and landing flat on her back. Her breath caught, and for a moment she struggled to inhale. That moment seemed to stretch on forever. Her ears rang, her throat felt dry, and her lungs ached. Suddenly, she felt the sweet relief of air rushing to her lungs. She gasped loudly and closed her eyes, taking long, deep breaths. No longer distracted by the lack of oxygen, her other senses began returning to her. Suddenly, she could feel the horrible throbbing in her legs leftover from the bludger. Her head was beginning to ache, and her back felt a tad sore from the landing. She could hear someone struggling with the bludger in the background. Slowly, Katie's train of thought returned to her and she realized what had happened. She had been hit by a bludger. What exactly was a bludger doing out on an empty field? Wait, she could hear someone, obviously the field wasn't empty. Someone had been out here practicing. But who would be crazy enough to sneak onto the field without permission just to practice quidditch? Besides her of course. Suddenly, it hit her. Her eyes snapped open and she shot upright.

"Oliver!" And there he was, latching the bludger into the wooden chest, mumbling angrily under his breath as he did so. However, upon Katie's sudden outburst, he jumped in surprise, nearly releasing the bludger again as he did so. With much struggle, he managed to wrestle the bludger back into the chest and strap it in. Katie watched with wide eyes. She would have helped, but she found that after abruptly sitting up, her head was beginning to spin, and she couldn't even begin to stand without her legs giving out.

After closing the chest with a satisfied bang, Oliver quickly snapped the latch closed before jogging over to Katie. He bent down beside her, his eyes studying her body for any obvious injuries, and then her face. Katie looked at him, attempting to stop her spinning head long enough to focus on his features. His mouth slowly opened and closed, but he didn't seem to be saying anything. Katie realized that this action made him look rather like a goldfish. She giggled slightly at the thought. The noise seemed to alert Oliver, whose eyes suddenly refocused on her. "I-I'm so sorry. I didn't-I didn't think anyone else would be _down_ here, I mean-you just came out of _nowhere_ and-"

"I didn't think anyone else would be down here either." Katie interrupted. She meant to sound stern, but her smile ruined it. She had missed him more than she had thought. Oliver paused for a moment, looking at her like she had lost her mind. Although, Katie figured that she probably sounded pretty groggy, she certainly felt that way. But she continued to smile dumbly at him, and slowly he smiled back, even letting out a small chuckle. "Wow . . ." he murmured. "What?" Katie was struggling to keep herself up. "Nothing really, I was just thinking we _really_ out to get you up to Madam Pomfrey." Katie would argue, but she was feeling too nauseous to put forth the effort. Oliver rose, "Can you stand?" he asked. Katie attempted to stand, her legs didn't move. She shook her head, looking up at him with wide eyes and a gooey smile. Oliver rolled his eyes, "Fine then." He sighed. Squatting down again, Oliver placed one arm around her upper torso, the under the crook of her legs. As he scooped her up, Katie let out a gasp before quickly biting her lip. "You alright?" he glanced at her. "Fine, my legs just hurt." Oliver began carrying her down the field. He smiled, "Well, that's to be expected. You did just get knocked pretty hard by a rogue bludger." Katie's eyes narrowed and her head snapped to look at him, making her head spin again. "And whose fault is _that_?" she snapped. To her surprise, Oliver laughed again. "You sound like you're feeling better."

The spent the rest of the walk in silence, which seemed to suit Oliver just fine. But Katie found herself feeling increasingly awkward. Perhaps this was because she was being carried across campus by her quidditch captain like a small child, but somehow she also felt that maybe she was just uncomfortable being this close to Oliver. She wondered why that was.

Well, he _was_ three years older, a bit of awkwardness was to be expected. He was her captain, practically her boss. And it's true that they were friends, but they had never been this . . . intimate or anything. Suddenly, she recalled a similar incident last year when she had been hit by a bludger and Oliver had carried her to the infirmary. Of course, he had stopped less than halfway there to trade her off to someone else but still, the similarity was uncanny. Katie thought for a moment. Had she had a problem with Oliver carrying her back then? Well, maybe some slight embarrassment, but this felt different somehow.

She sighed, her head was still aching, and pains were shooting up and down her legs. Thinking about this was too much energy, so finally she sighed, and relented. She allowed her head to lean into Oliver's chest. As she did so, she thought she heard Oliver inhale sharply. She quickly decided that it must have been her imagination, and closed her eyes for some much deserved rest. As she slowly drifted off, she noticed in her last moments of consciousness that Oliver smelled like broomstick polish.

* * *

Katie awoke in the middle of the night to find herself tucked into a bed in the infirmary. She recounted the events leading up to the present, and slowly sat up. She took a mental inventory of her injuries. She no longer felt dizzy, and her head didn't ache. Her back felt fine. Her legs were a bit stiff, and still a little sore, but it was a big improvement from the shooting pains she had been feeling earlier. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the dark, but once they did Katie glanced around the room. No one else was present in the infirmary, well, aside from the beds with curtains around them, which no doubt held the petrified students. Katie suddenly felt a tad unsettled realizing that she was the only conscious person in the room. She snuggled back down into her bed and vaguely wondered if she was also the only living one.

* * *

She awoke several hours later to the greeting of daylight, and an anxious Madam Pomfrey. Katie assured her that she was feeling much better, but Madam Pomfrey insisted on fussing over her anyways. "Honestly," she sighed as she fluffed Katie's pillow, "How a girl your age manages to tumble down the moving staircases and sustain injuries of this measure is beyond me." Madam Pomfrey stood away from the pillow and eyed Katie up and down, "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure I believe it." Katie stifled a laugh, the staircase? Really? That's the best Oliver could come up with? She supposed he couldn't very well tell anyone that they had been out on the practice field without permission.

"Oh – well, I was very tired that day you see and, well." Katie shrugged and offered Madam Pomfrey a sheepish smile. Madam Pomfrey stared her down for a moment, until finally she rolled her eyes. She placed a vial at Katie's bedside, "Drink it, drink it all. I'll be back later to check that you did, and I'll know if you did or not, _believe me_." And as Madam Pomfrey hurried away, Katie found that she did, in fact, believe her. She swallowed the disgusting substance right then and there, just to get it over with. It was tasteless, but has a slimy, unsettling texture. Katie blanched as she finished it.

"Katie!" Katie's eyes snapped up to identify the source of the voice. Her face immediately lit up, "Leanne!" Her friend hurried to Katie's bedside. "You're awake!" Leanne said, "I tried to come earlier but they said you were out cold, what happened to you?" Katie made sure the coast was clear before explaining the truth to Leanne in hushed tones. At the end of the story, Leanne rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you snuck onto the quidditch pitch. If you ask me, you and Oliver are equally crazy." Katie made a face, "Don't even joke about that. Oliver Wood is a special kind of insane." A slow smile spread across Leanne's features, making Katie increasingly nervous with each passing second. "Or maybe," Leanne began slowly, "he's just special."

Katie's face flushed, she suddenly felt incredibly annoyed. "Come _on_, I keep _telling_ you that it's not like that! We're just friends, why can't you and everyone else just leave it alone!" she snapped. Leanne's smile faltered. ". . . okay, fine. Whatever. I didn't mean to make you upset." She muttered. Katie groaned and leaned forward, "No . . . I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I'm just getting really annoyed with everyone thinking I have a thing for Oliver. I mean…I just can't see him that way. Like at _all_." And it was true. Despite the awkwardness Katie had felt when Oliver was carrying her, she couldn't bring herself to view him in a romantic light. The idea of dating Oliver was, by itself, not repulsive. He was not unattractive, they got along well, she didn't even mind the age difference that much though she suspected that he would. But dating? She couldn't really imagine holding his hand or kissing. She couldn't even imagine a conversation with him that didn't involve quidditch.

"I know that," Leanne said, "I'm just having a little bit of fun." Her smile returned, "I _do_ listen when you talk you know?" Katie smiled back, "Good to know."

* * *

Katie's time in the infirmary was short, but after Leanne left she was visited by her quidditch team, minus one Mr. Potter who apparently was busy and could not be found. Katie was a bit disappointed that he didn't come, but was pleased that almost the entire team was together again. She enjoyed the short banter while it lasted before Madam Pomfrey shooed them away. Oliver hung back for a moment, managing to get out another short apology whilst Madam Pomfrey was occupied with something. But she returned quickly enough and shooed him out as well. Katie smiled as he left. Maybe she didn't have feelings for Oliver Wood, but that didn't stop the pleasing warmth that spread across her chest upon realizing that he did, in fact, care.

* * *

The end of the year brought many pleasant surprises, the petrified students were all returned to normal, and the beast causing the incident had supposedly been destroyed. Quidditch games never returned that year, but as a special treat, exams had been cancelled. Katie found that by the end of the year, she had very little to complain about, except, of course, the lack of quidditch games. But, she supposed, there was always next year, and the year after that and the year after that. As she readied herself for the trip home, she mused to herself that she had plenty of time for quidditch with her team. As she was heading out the door, a thought struck her. She did have plenty of time for quidditch in the following years but she supposed . . . Oliver was graduating next year, wasn't he?


	4. Fourth Year

Summer was fun, but Katie found herself counting down the days until she could return to Hogwarts, and when that fateful day finally arrived, she could not have been more excited. She was jittery the whole way to the castle, and she greeted all of her friends enthusiastically. She was especially excited to see Leanne. She was just wandering into the great hall and chatting excitedly with Leanne when she got the odd feeling that perhaps she was forgetting something. She pushed the feeling aside and instead focused all of her attention on Leanne. Unfortunately, Leanne was not giving her the same courtesy. She kept glancing at something out of the corner of her eye and smiling. Katie questioned her on it a few times, but Leanne always shook her head and insisted it was nothing. Soon it no longer mattered, as everyone had to quiet themselves for the sorting. Then, a murmur broke out amongst the students after a particularly chilling announcement regarding the Azkaban dementors. However, once the feast began, both the students and Leanne seemed to have forgotten about whatever might have distracted them before, and she and Katie resumed their normal conversation. Soon, Katie forgot about the distraction as well.

However, just as they were exiting the great hall, Leanne glanced away and smiled again. This time, she even giggled slightly. Katie was exasperated, "What are you looking at?" she turned in the direction Leanne was facing and her eyes scanned the crowd. It took barely a second for her to realize what had distracted Leanne. There, making his way through the crowd was Oliver Wood.

He stopped awkwardly in front of her and beamed. For a moment, his arms twitched like he was going to hug her, but then he simply smiled wider and waved. "Hi." He breathed.

"Hi." Katie's voice was equally breathless. This surprised her, since when was she nervous around Oliver? Also, when did she start holding her breath?

"I uh . . . I tried to get your attention earlier across the table but you didn't see me." Oliver explained awkwardly. Katie was suddenly embarrassed, and also slightly annoyed. Why hadn't Leanne just _told_ her?

"O-oh . . . I'm sorry, I didn't know." She shrugged and smiled nervously. She could feel her cheeks burning and cursed her misbehaving face. She and Oliver stood there awkwardly smiling at each other for another moment or so before Katie heard another giggle escape from Leanne. "Well-uh, we'd better get back to the dormitory." This statement seemed to snap Oliver out of his oddly dazed expression. Suddenly, wistful smile turned playful, and the manic glint in his eyes returned. "Of course! On the way there I can tell you about the strategies I came up with over the summer. I think I've got some pretty good ideas for what our game plan this season should be." Katie and Leanne rolled their eyes and exchanged amused looks. "Of course you did." Katie sighed. "You bet. I spent a good part of my summer hacking it all out. Oh-which reminds me, how was your summer, Katie?" Katie shrugged, "Pretty good." Oliver waited politely for her to elaborate, although Katie knew he was just dying to delve right into his strategies. Usually, Katie would have allowed him to just carry on about it by now, just to appease him. But she found herself suddenly feeling a little inclined to make him wait. Maybe she didn't want his attention to break away from her just yet. She also found herself thinking back to that strange moment between them which had just occurred. But soon she realized that she hadn't said anything for a good couple of minutes and decided to just let Oliver off the hook. "So," Katie sighed, oddly disappointed, "what were these strategies you mentioned?" Oliver beamed.

* * *

Perhaps it was because of the two years previous in which the quidditch cup had slipped through their fingers, or perhaps it was because this year was his last, but Katie couldn't help but notice that Oliver Wood's practice sessions this year were more brutal than ever. In fact, it was pretty hard for the entire team not to notice.

"I'm gonna kill him." Alicia gasped. The team stood on the grassy field, kneeling over and breathing heavily. They were dirt smeared, dripping in sweat, and moments from collapsing in complete exhaustion. This is when Oliver Wood chose to land beside them. "Well don't just stand there! We've plenty more to do." He announced, gesturing to the hoops. "Oliver!" Angelina rounded on him with an unprecedented ferocity which surprised the entire team, Oliver in particular. "This is too much! I can't take it anymore! You are INSANE! And if you don't believe me-just ask the rest of the team," she gestured quickly to the team, who shifted awkwardly, "If I have to run _one more_ stupid drill, I'm going to SNAP!" Fred leaned towards his brother, "I think she already has."

"SHUT UP FRED!" Angelina screeched. Oliver was staring at his enraged chaser with a look of pure shock plastered across his features. After a few moments of silence, he ran his eyes over his exhausted team. Suddenly he wilted. The team exchanged worried looks, even Angelina seemed suddenly off put. Oliver let out a sigh as he cast his eyes downwards. Shifting his feet back and forth, he murmured, "Well…I-um…I suppose that's enough. For today." He looked up suddenly, "I'll round up the gear, shall I? You all hit the showers." And with that he turned on his heel and walked away. An awkward silence passed over the team. But the second Oliver was out of earshot, George piped up, "Way to go Angelina."

"Yeah," Fred added, "You broke him." The twins turned and headed off towards the locker room. Angelina turned back to her team, looking embarrassed and guilty. After another moment of silence, Harry glanced up, "That was…a bit harsh maybe?" he said gently. When Angelina didn't respond, he too walked off to the locker room. Alicia sighed and walked over to Angelina, encouraging her gently and leading her off to the lockers as well. Katie watched them go, but stayed behind. She desperately wanted to return to the lockers to take a shower and change out of her sweaty gear, but was unsure if she was ready to face the tension surrounding her teammates. But after about five minutes of watching Oliver scurrying after a bludger, Katie sighed and retired to the lockers.

When the team finally exited, Oliver was still rounding up the gear. Katie considered helping him, but upon noticing his downcast expression, she felt that doing so might be awkward. Figuring that he would prefer to be left alone, she followed her silent teammates off of the pitch.

But as she climbed under her bed covers that night, she mused to herself that it must have taken Oliver a long time to round up all the gear on his own, especially the elusive snitch. As she drifted off, she wondered if he would be alright come next practice.

* * *

Since Oliver had opened his tyrannical reign this year with a whopping three practices a week, the next practice was not far off. And throughout the practice, Katie noticed, to her discomfort, that Oliver was indeed, off. The rest of her teammates seemed to notice as well, as they were oddly silent and complained little during the practice. However, this may also have been because Oliver nagged them less this practice.

His differences were subtle. For the most part, he was the same old Oliver Wood, shouting out orders and offering up suggestions. But he seemed to be letting more slide this particular day, and his commands, once strong and final, were now slightly more tentative.

After Oliver said nothing following a particularly awful shot at the hoops by Alicia, Katie sighed. "I can't take this anymore."

After practice had ended, the gear had been put away, and the team had showered and changed, Katie approached him. She waited until the team was exiting the pitch before grabbing Oliver by the sleeve and calling out his name. "I need to talk to you." She said. Oliver glanced back at the exiting team before turning back to his youngest chaser, "Uh . . . alright, sure. What is it Bell?"

'Bell.' She hated it. "What's wrong with you today?" she hadn't meant it to come out so harsh, but she'd already said it and she was more than a little annoyed by this point. "What do you mean?" he looked so genuinely confused that Katie almost believed him.

"You know." She insisted, "You've been acting weird all practice. Is this about what Angelina said? Because she was just exhausted-she didn't really mean it."

"It's not about that." He said quickly, "I mean-I'm _fine_." Katie's eyes searched his face for clues, but found none. Finally, she sighed. "Look Oliver, you drive everyone crazy you know. What with your early morning extended practices, the sheer _number_ of sessions we have, and your crazy nagging all the time . . ." Oliver's brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to object, but Katie cut him off, "All I mean is, you work us pretty hard, and you can't blame us for getting a little annoyed every once in a while." She shrugged. Oliver paused, looking down slightly as he thought over her words. Seeming to understand, he nodded slightly. "But . . ." she began. He glanced up, "We know why you do it, and we wouldn't ever want you to change." She smiled shyly. Oliver looked slightly confused again. But before he could respond, Katie leaned forward on her tip toes and pecked him on the cheek. She wasn't sure why she did it exactly, to be honest she didn't give it much thought. "You're fine the way you are." And with one final smile, she turned and headed off the quidditch pitch. She didn't see the surprised look on Oliver's face. She didn't see the slow blush that spread across his face, or the way he shifted his feet slightly. She didn't see him watching her leave.

* * *

The next practice that rolled around saw Oliver Wood returning to his formerly fired up self, much to the relief of his entire team. Katie was particularly pleased, feeling like perhaps her little chat with Oliver may have helped, even just a little. But regardless, she was glad that everything had returned to normal. Except, maybe this was her imagination, but she felt like Oliver might have been watching her during practice. But then again, he was the captain. He was supposed to watch.

* * *

After the horrible incident of the first game, Oliver was in shambles. And Katie couldn't say she blamed him, not this time. After a last minute switch up, which had them facing Hufflepuff instead of the intended Slytherin, a group of dementors had ambushed Harry, eliminating him from the game as well as almost killing him. Without their seeker, they had suffered a humiliating defeat at Hufflepuff's hands. And while Katie was pleased to hear that Harry would be alright, she couldn't help but be disappointed at their circumstantial loss.

To be fair, Cedric Diggory had offered them a rematch, but Oliver had politely turned him down. Katie was partially disappointed that her captain had rejected such a generous offer, but couldn't really blame him. A rematch win was hardly a win, and Oliver, despite his obsessive behavior, was all about fairness. That was part of what made him such a great captain.

"I think Wood might actually off himself this time around." George remarked. "It wouldn't be a surprise." Fred agreed. They turned to each other and said in unison, "He is a lunatic after all." Currently, their almighty captain was lying on his back on the couch in the Gryffindor common room, his hands covering his face. "Oh lay off." Angelina sighed, "I think we're _all_ pretty upset about this one."

"No kidding," Alicia chimed, "dementors on the field, it's insane." She muttered. "He'll be fine." Katie said, "He just needs a day or two to get over it."

"Well of course he does." The twins chimed, grinning at her. Angelina and Alicia giggled, exchanging knowing smiles. Katie rolled her eyes. She knew what was coming, and she didn't want to hear it. "I'm going to bed now." She announced. She climbed the stairs listening to the laughter of her teammates along with Angelina's half joking outcry of, "Sorry Katie!"

She was relieved upon entering the fourth years' dorm room to find Leanne in there alone reading a book. "Hey, Leanne." Katie smiled and plopped down on the bed beside her friend. "Hello." Leanne said, not looking up from her book. Katie sighed and allowed herself to fall back onto the mattress. Leanne glanced at her, "Upset about the loss now, are we?" Katie sighed again. "I can't help it." Leanne nodded, "I know."

* * *

Oliver did recover, as he always did, and in no time at all the team was back to their brutal practices. Now increased to five times a week. But despite all of the work and all of the complaining, the practices seemed to be well worth the effort, as the team emerged victorious from their next match against Ravenclaw. Katie was so pleased with the results, that she even gave Harry a kiss on the cheek, something which made Oliver twist his face into an unrecognizable expression. But Katie didn't care, she was far too giddy.

By the time she left the locker room, most of the team was gone. She could just barely see Angeline and Alicia chatting as the exited the pitch together as she exited the lockers. But just as she headed towards the field exit, she heard a voice call out her name. "Katie!" she turned to see Oliver rushing after her. She slowed her pace, allowing him to catch up, and he soon fell into step beside her. "Excellent game today!" he announced, beaming. Despite the fact that Katie was already overjoyed, she found Oliver's delight contagious, and she smiled. Oliver launched into an extraordinarily complimentary recount of the game's highlights, and Katie soon found herself joining in. They had quite a pleasant conversation, and after they had exhausted their excitement over the game itself, Oliver began to carefully compliment Katie's performance. She blushed slightly and tried to add in her own compliments of Oliver here and there, but there was no doubt that he dominated the conversation. They were nearing the school when Katie finally piped up, "Oliver, please, you're embarrassing me."

He stopped so suddenly that it took Katie a few seconds to realize he was no longer beside her. When she did, she paused and turned back to face him. He was watching her with a sort of elated expression on his face. "You were brilliant though." He said softly. Katie blushed again, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Oliver . . ." she muttered. He took a hesitant step forward. "Katie, do you ever think, that maybe . . ." she looked up. 'Katie,' he had said. For some reason, she could feel her heart hammering in her chest, and she was having trouble breathing. Oliver's eyes shifted back and forth between Katie's face and the ground, but Katie's eyes were locked on his. He seemed to struggle within himself for a moment, before finally he looked up at her again. ". . . never mind." His smile seemed halfhearted, and Katie found herself oddly disappointed.

They finished their walk with bits and pieces of conversation about the game, but they were far less enthusiastic than before. When they parted in the Gryffindor common room to head off to bed, Katie felt strangely nostalgic. Upon entering the dorm, Katie collapsed on her bed with a large sigh, drawing Leanne's attention. She perched herself on the end of Katie's bed, "What's wrong?" she whispered, so as not to awake the other girls. Katie propped herself up on her elbows. ". . . I don't know really." She said quietly. It was hard to see in the dark, but Katie thought she saw Leanne's brow furrow in confusion. "What do you mean?" Katie sighed and sat up, "Just that . . . lately I've been feeling a little weird around Oliver." To Leanne's credit, she listened quietly and seemed to consider Katie's statement, rather than immediately insist that Katie had fallen in love with her captain. Katie was suddenly grateful for Leanne's non-judgmental ways. Finally, Leanne whispered, "Why do you think that is?" Katie thought it over, and couldn't come up with a proper answer. Well, not one she agreed with anyways. ". . . I don't know." She said softly. They sat in silence for a while, eventually they both retired to bed. As she lay there, wide awake, Katie wondered if it was in any way possible that she had developed feelings for Oliver Wood.

* * *

With the end of the year approaching, Katie had much to worry about. Finals were coming up, and with the quidditch cup within their grasp, Oliver was as fired up as ever. Scheduling practices, devising strategies, and nagging his teammates with as much vigor as possible, Oliver seemed unstoppable. And yet, despite the fact that he was now more annoying than ever, Katie found herself paying more attention to him during practice, admiring the skills she had been drawn to upon first meeting him. When speaking with him, Katie re-evaluated his features. She had always found Oliver rather plain, and not particularly attractive, but lately she was wondering why she had ever thought that. Upon closer inspection, she found him rather charming, perhaps even a bit handsome. And as the end of the year crept closer and closer, she found herself increasingly alarmed as his inevitable graduation. She attempted to push these growing concerns from her mind, but it seemed an impossible task. She began to worry that these thoughts might interfere with her performance during the final quidditch match.

However, when the match finally rolled around, she discovered with pleasure that her dedication to quidditch overwhelmed her concerns regarding Oliver, and she was able to focus completely on the matter at hand.

When they won, she could not have been more elated. The team gathered in an enthusiastic dog pile, hugging and screaming and whooping. Katie could hardly tell whose limbs were whose, and she didn't particularly care. The team was ecstatic, and she could not have been more jubilant. Oliver was so happy, that Katie suspected she saw tears in his eyes. It wouldn't surprise her, he had worked hard the past three years for this moment.

Katie also found that the residual joy from the team finally winning the quidditch cup had seeped into her everyday life. With the end of the year just around the corner, Katie found herself feeling far more pleasant, and she was far more confident in her studies. The felt good about how final exams had gone, and with the dementors leaving Hogwarts, she could think of nothing else that could make her life better. Well, almost nothing else.

* * *

With the end of the year came graduation, meaning the departure of their captain. The whole team stopped to say goodbye to Oliver Wood, some stayed longer than others. Katie hung back the longest. They stood on the shores of the lake as other graduates finished their goodbyes and began to board the boats.

"So," Katie sighed, "I guess . . . I won't be seeing you next year." Oliver chuckled slightly, "I suppose not."

"Quidditch practice won't be the same." She smiled back. "Oh, you'll be fine. It's like I've been saying for the past three years-best quidditch team that Hogwarts has seen in years." He shrugged. Katie dipped her head and nodded. It was so strange to think of him not being there next year, not nagging them with his constant orders and advice. Why on earth did she feel like she was about to start crying?

"Where uh . . . what will you do?" she looked up at him. Oliver glanced back at the boats, "Probably try to go pro. I hear Puddlemere United is looking for a reserve keeper." Katie couldn't help it, she smiled, "You'll make it for sure." Oliver raised his eyebrows skeptically, "Well, we'll see. You never know, maybe they'll have a low turnout." Katie rolled her eyes, "Don't be ridiculous, you're an amazing keeper and they'd be lucky to have you." Oliver stared at her, suddenly she felt awkward and dipped her head again. ". . . you really think so don't you?" he said quietly, his eyes locked on her face. Katie looked up again, feeling slightly confused, "Well . . . of course, why else would I say it?" Oliver shook his head and looked down, shuffling his feet. "Nothing. No reason." He shook his head again. Katie looked back and forth, utterly confused. "Oi! Wood! The boats are leaving!" a voice called out. Oliver and Katie both turned towards the boats, Katie felt suddenly panicked. "Be right there!" Oliver shouted. He turned back to Katie, who looked up at him, her heart beating against her ribcage. "Well." He sighed. "Well." She repeated, forcing a smile. He smiled back, and they stood in silence for another moment, just staring at each other. Suddenly, Oliver's smile dropped and he glanced down. "Bye, Katie." He murmured, and he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, trapping her in his embrace. Katie's breath caught, and she slowly wrapped her arms around his torso. "Bye, Oliver." She whispered. They stood there for a time that seemed all too short, until finally Oliver had to pull away. He offered her one last smile, and then boarded the boats.

As the boats pulled away, Katie felt her nose burning, and her eyes blurred. The farther away the boats got, the harder it became for Katie to hold back her tears, until finally she had to turn away. She ran frantically to the carriages, and managed to hold it back until she found Leanne. She quickly climbed in and slammed the door behind her before collapsing into tears. Leanne was immediately alarmed, and she wrapped her arms around Katie.

"Katie! What's wrong?" she asked, concern evident in her voice. But Katie couldn't find the words to speak right now. As if understanding her friend's predicament, Leanne didn't pry, she merely sat there, holding Katie and rubbing her back. And Katie didn't stop crying until they had to exit the carriages. Feeling numb, she barely tried to hide her puffy eyes, but stuck close to Leanne, who again, didn't question her. As they boarded the train, Katie felt grateful for Leanne's wordless acceptance of her despair, but couldn't work up the energy to tell her just what had been bothering her just yet. But as the train pulled away, she knew she could hardly deny it anymore. She liked Oliver Wood.


	5. Fifth Year

Katie's fifth year at Hogwarts brought about changes. Over the course of the summer, she had finally worked up the nerve to reveal to Leanne her feelings about Oliver. Leanne was very supportive and comforting, and over time, Katie began to feel better. By the time the new school year rolled around, she felt that it didn't matter how she felt about Oliver. He was gone, and she was sure that given time, her feelings would fade, especially with him no longer around. Not to mention that with the whole quidditch world cup fiasco still fresh in everyone's mind, it was harder to worry about romance.

She did, however, feel worried about the impending quiddtich season. With Oliver gone, who would take his place? Who possibly could?

As it turned out, she needn't have worried. At the opening feast, Dumbledore announced that quidditch matches had been cancelled to make time for the Triwizard Tournament. Katie was intrigued by the tournament, as well as concerned. She was also severely disappointed about the cancelling of quidditch matches. She could almost hear Oliver's ranting in her head, and she smiled at the thought. Probably, she thought to herself, it was best that he was not here this year.

* * *

The Triwizard Tournament was brutal, and, a surprise to everyone, saw Harry Potter competing in it. Okay, maybe they weren't _that_ surprised, but they were pretty surprised. As the first event commenced, it became clear that Harry was at a disadvantage, but he was three years younger than all of the other competitors. But despite the struggle, Harry performed quite well, and Katie, along with the rest of the quidditch team, was quite pleased. Leanne remarked that Harry was beginning to seem quite attractive, but added that she still preferred the confident Cedric Diggory. Katie couldn't disagree, Cedric _was_ quite good looking. But to be fair, she could never date Harry; she had known him too long and just couldn't see him that way. To her, he would always be the shy, modest little boy who joined the team late, and then blew everyone away.

Everyone was eager for the second task, if only to see what else was in store. However, as it turned out, the next event of the tournament was not a task, but a ball. The Yule Ball, held on Christmas. For the first time, Christmas came not with talks of going home and enjoying family time, but of dresses and dates.

Katie couldn't deny that the ball interested her, it was certainly something new, Hogwarts never had dances or balls or anything like that. But despite her initial intrigue, she didn't feel a real need to go. The Great Hall would be unbelievably beautiful, but it always was. Everyone would be all dressed up, and there would be dancing. There was no one she could think to ask as a date-well, no one _present_ anyways, and honestly, the idea of a ball just didn't excite her that much. But, Leanne was ecstatic, and didn't want to go alone, so Katie agreed to stay at Hogwarts over break and attend with her.

"I just need to find someone who would make a good date." Leanne murmured, scanning the corridors as she and Katie walked to class. Katie glanced in the direction Leanne was examining. "How about him?" Katie suggested loosely, gesturing to a tall boy with wispy blonde hair. Leanne turned to her, "John Lorpithan?" she made a face, "I dunno . . . he's awfully tall, but not bad looking I suppose." She considered him, "Oh, you know what? No, I heard he's planning on asking Eleanor Franklin." Katie bristled slightly at the name, Oliver's ex, but then shrugged, "Well, who do you _want_ to ask?" Leanne quieted. After a moment or two of silence, Katie turned to look at her, "Leanne?"

"I'm thinking!" Leanne playfully snapped. Katie smiled.

* * *

When the Yule Ball finally rolled around, Katie found herself oddly nervous. She wasn't sure why, it wasn't as if she had a date, or someone or something to be particularly worried about. Yet, when she walked into the great hall with Leanne at her side, both of them dolled up to the extreme, she couldn't help feeling slightly unsettled.

She tried to stifle her feelings by focusing on other matters. The beauty of the great hall, how everyone else looked all dressed up, how awkward Harry looked opening the ceremony with the other champions, conversation with Leanne, but she couldn't shake the strange feeling of unease.

Soon enough, a boy came to ask Leanne to dance, Ritchie Coote, Katie was pretty sure that's what his name was, and she was left all alone. She sent Leanne off with a smile, but once she was gone, Katie sighed. Now she had nothing to distract her, and the full force of her discomfort set it. Maybe, she mused, it was the romantic atmosphere. She never had been good with this kind of cheesy, starry-eyed, lovey-dovey kind of stuff. She glanced up. She could clearly see Harry and Parvati off in the distance. Harry was staring off at something else, and Parvati looked bored out of her skull. Katie turned her head, she could just see Fred and Angelina laughing together out of the corner of her eye. George was nearby, and soon joined the conversation. She couldn't spot Alicia, but Leanne and Ritchie were a mere 10 feet away. Katie observed them. Leanne was grinning ear to ear, she was positively glowing. Katie smiled, Leanne always had been quite pretty, she just had trouble with boys because she was quite shy around them. Katie sighed. She had the opposite problem, whereas Leanne was pretty and shy, Katie was tomboyish and upfront, not particularly attractive qualities. No wonder Oliver had never noticed her. Katie sighed again, and wondered vaguely who Oliver would have brought to the Yule Ball. It was hard to say, but judging from Oliver's taste in girls (namely, Eleanor) she supposed someone fairly pretty, feminine, and fair tempered. Although, she wondered if Oliver would have even been up to going to the ball, or if he would still be mourning the loss of the quidditch season.

"Um, Katie?" Katie was suddenly pulled from her thoughts, and she turned towards the voice. "A-Adrian." She stuttered. She was surprised to see him. She had seen very little of him since the whole crush-fiasco in her second year. She looked him once over. He had gotten taller and older of course, and had grown into his looks, she noticed that he was better looking than ever. And yet…somewhat lacking in distinction. She found herself thinking of Oliver again, and wondered what had ever possessed her into thinking that Adrian Pucey was the more attractive of the two.

"I was just wondering," Katie once again abandoned her thoughts and attempted to focus on the nervous looking boy before her. "Would you maybe like to dance?" he asked. Katie opened and closed her mouth. Briefly, she considered telling him once again that she didn't date Slytherins, let alone Slytherins on an opposing quidditch team, but as she watched him fidgeting before her, it suddenly struck her that at this point, it hardly mattered. Oliver wasn't around to disapprove, and even if he was, there was no quidditch this year anyways. And besides that, what harm could once dance do? So she sighed, smiled and took his hand. "Why not?" she said. Adrian beamed and led her out to the dance floor. They danced at a comfortable distance, and Katie found that she was not entirely opposed to having her hand in his.

"So . . . how have you been?" Adrian asked. "Oh, you know. Mourning the quidditch season." She joked. Adrian smiled, "Likewise." Katie giggled. They carried on in polite conversation for some time, until their topics began to wane. Soon, silence overtook them.

". . . so," Adrian began slowly, "Have you got a- uh . . . boyfriend?" he glanced at her nervously. Katie froze, how should she respond? Obviously she couldn't say _yes_, but she hardly wanted to insinuate to Adrian that she was in any way interested. She began to panic internally, and it must have shown because Adrian let out a chuckle. Katie was suddenly confused. "I'm sorry- what's so funny?" she asked. "Nothing really," Adrian smiled, "You don't have to worry Katie, I'm not asking you out again. I'm just . . . being polite." Katie breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately felt guilty. "Oh, um- I didn't mean anything by that or anything, you seem quite nice really I'm just not . . ." she trailed off. "Just not interested," Adrian finished for her, "It's fine Katie, really. I'm past it." He assured her, smiling again. Katie nodded. ". . . can I just ask then- why did you ask me to dance?" Adrian shrugged, "You looked kind of lonely." He admitted. Katie was suddenly embarrassed, was she that obvious? Her eyes were drawn to the floor, and she went silent. "But," Adrian began. Katie looked up. "You also looked very pretty." He smiled at her again. Katie smiled, blushing as she did so. ". . . thank you."

* * *

The rest of the tournament held plenty of excitement and intrigue, and it was becoming clearer with each passing event how dangerous the tournament could be, but that still didn't prepare anyone for how it ended.

Cedric. Harry. What else was there to say?

* * *

"Just for the sake of retaining some normalcy." That's what Angelina had written in her letter. But Katie was unsure, barely a month had passed since the end of the Triwizard Tournament, and it still felt as though a dark cloud was subduing the whole of the wizarding world. And yet, she couldn't deny that she felt some excitement in being reunited with her team so early in the summer. Maybe Angelina was right, some 'normalcy' might be nice. So, with that in mind, Katie set off for Angelina's for the weekend. If nothing else, it could certainly do little harm.

* * *

She arrived early Friday afternoon to find Angelina and Alicia chatting outside. They greeted her with excited group hug, and Angelina quickly began showing her about the house and making introductions.

"Fred and George are out back," Angelina said as she showed Katie around the kitchen, "My mum told them that if they wanted to shoot off their crazy fireworks, they had best stay behind the house."

"A good call, I reckon." Alicia gave a curt nod. Katie smiled, she was eager to see them. "Harry couldn't make it," Angelina sighed, "I had trouble getting the letter to him at all, and then his guardians wouldn't allow it." She shrugged, "But, what can you do I suppose?" She and Alicia exchanged disappointed looks. Katie too, was slightly saddened that their little summer reunion would be short a member, but she could hardly do anything about it. And besides, that didn't mean that she wouldn't have a good time with her other teammates. "Well," she shrugged, "That's too bad, but I guess that's that. I suppose that means everyone's here then?" she looked up at Angelina and Alicia, and was confused when they seemed to eye her with amused smirks. "What?" she asked. "Nothing." Alicia smiled and turned away. "Why don't we head out back and say hi to the twins?" Angelina said. She and Alicia giggled, and Katie was left with little option other than to follow them towards the back door.

The effect as they exited to the back was immediate, it was hardly possible to miss the loud whooping and cheering of Fred and George, but perhaps one could be persuaded to ignore it if they were distracted by the banging and bright lights of the fireworks. Katie was struck by their beauty and artistry, and wondered how on earth she hadn't heard them earlier. The twins spotted her at the same time. "Katie!" they shouted, and quickly rushed to hug her, nearly smothering her in the process. But as they parted, she was beaming from ear to ear.

"So nice to have the team altogether now." George grinned. "Indeed, a darn shame Harry couldn't make it." Fred added. The twins looked at each and shook their heads in disapproval. "But!" George said, "You can hardly blame him." The twins turned to Katie and said in unison, "His guardians are insane." Katie couldn't help but giggle, the twins were always good for a laugh, even when she wasn't sure they were even trying to be funny.

"I can't say I approve, the backyard's all smoggy now, how on earth will we fly?" Katie's voice caught in her throat, she knew that voice. Hardly allowing herself to believe it, she stepped away from the twins, craning her neck around them to see, walking across the yard, examining the sky in his quirky, obsessive way, Oliver Wood.

She supposed she would regret it later, as the teasing would be inevitably severe, but at that moment, she hardly cared. Not that she thought it through much. "Oliver!" she screamed. And before she knew it, she had bounded across the lawn to capture him in an embrace so tight, she almost knocked him off his feet. After a brief moment of surprise, he returned the gesture, and seemed pleased to do so. "Glad to see you made it." He joked. Katie didn't respond, she merely continued smiling with her arms wrapped around him, ignoring the snickering of her teammates.

Eventually they pulled apart, but Katie was still beaming. "I didn't know you would be here." Katie said. Oliver raised an eyebrow, "Well, it is a team thing, and from what I heard, you all haven't exactly gotten yourselves a new keeper just yet."

"Oh yeah, quidditch was cancelled last year." Katie thought aloud.

"A crime against humanity if you ask me," Oliver muttered under his breath, only half-joking. But Katie laughed anyways. "Yeah, good thing you left the year before. You would have hated it this year."

"Yeah, no kidding." Oliver sighed, "But," he looked up, a familiar glint in his eyes, "I assume matches will be back on come fall. You'll all have to keep me updated." He flashed a smile at his former team, who all grinned back.

"It'll hardly be the same without you." Angelina said. Oliver seemed slightly embarrassed, "Well, sometimes change is good. With me as captain the last three years, we haven't had much of anything for keeper tryouts. There could well be a vast amount of untapped potential within the school." Maybe Oliver was joking a little, but the manic look in his eyes accompanied by his familiar amused smile told the team otherwise. Oliver was many things, but no one could say that he wasn't undyingly loyal. Whether he was on the team now or not, not much could make Oliver happier than seeing the Gryffindor quidditch team win the quidditch cup, whether or not he was there to make it happen.

"Speaking of quidditch," Alicia piped up, "I believe we were about to start a game?"

"Ah, yes." Oliver suddenly turned his face upwards to stare at the sky, "That is before our beaters polluted the sky. We might have to wait a bit until it's safe to breathe."

"It'll clear soon enough." Fred assured them. "Just a bit of fireworks, nothing too dangerous." George added. "Regardless," Oliver turned to face everyone, "We don't need anyone sitting up there hacking their lungs out. Best to just wait a few minutes and have ourselves a proper game."

The team didn't argue. After all, they may complain at times but it couldn't be denied, when it came to quidditch, Oliver was usually right.

As they waited for the smoke to clear, Fred and George began a bout of friendly flirting with Angelina and Alicia, who, for their part, mostly giggled and rolled their eyes. Oliver's eyes remained glued to the sky, his hand skimming the top of his forehead in an attempt to block out sunlight. And Katie, well Katie's eyes were glued to Oliver. He seemed mostly unchanged, he was still the tall, spindly framed, quidditch-obsessed weirdo he'd always been. Although . . . despite looking the same, he seemed oddly more handsome, or was that just her?

"Oh!" Katie was snapped out of her wistful thoughts as Oliver suddenly turned to her. "I forgot to tell you," he beamed, "I made reserve keeper for Puddlemere United." His eyes glinted as he watched her. Katie's face flashed from confusion, to shock, to pure excitement in a matter of seconds. "Oliver! That's _amazing_!" She grinned from ear to ear and bounced slightly as she congratulated him. Oliver looked down sheepishly, but he seemed pleased with her reaction. "See? Told you that you'd make it." Katie teased lightly, tapping his arm with her fist. Oliver glanced up, "Thanks."

They smiled silently at one another for a minute, both quite pleased with their back and forth. Suddenly, Alicia rather loudly and purposefully cleared her throat, and both Katie and Oliver hastily turned away. Katie ducked her head down embarrassedly, she was sure now that she had been staring at Oliver with some goofy expression on her face. She was afraid to look at the others, but could hear them giggling. But as humiliated as she was that her friends had witnessed her behavior, she was even more mortified as the thought that Oliver may have noticed what was behind her smile.

Suddenly she recalled her ecstatic reaction upon seeing him, and felt another wave of embarrassment rushing over her. She wondered briefly if there was any possibility that Oliver might not have noticed anything. This was when she realized that Oliver had been chattering away about the sky for the past minute or two. Deciding that he was probably significantly distracted by his insane focus on quidditch conditions, she snuck a glance at him.

He was staring at the sky and speaking 90 miles an hour in his usual Oliver way, which allowed Katie a sigh of relief. But as she examined him more closely, she realized he looked a bit . . . anxious for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with the concentrated way he was rubbing the back of his neck. Katie attempted to listen to rest of his ramblings, which, and perhaps this was her imagination, but seemed a tad more psychotic than usual, but was distracted by the red spot forming on the back of his neck.

". . .uh, Oliver?" she said slowly. Oliver quickly turned to face her, his hand still attached to the back of his neck. "It's just, does your neck hurt or something?" her inquiry was polite, but Oliver dropped his hands to his side so quickly she may as well have screamed it. Before she could say anything else, Oliver started towards the backyard shed.

"The sky's clear enough now-we should set up!" He sounded so excited that Katie decided to just let it go.

* * *

Quidditch was fun, and it was certainly thrilling to have (almost) the whole team together again, but it was also a tiring activity. And after quidditch, dinner, chatting with Angelina's family, and one last game of quidditch, everyone was absolutely exhausted.

Katie wasn't sure if her parents would've let her sleep in the same general vicinity as teenage boys, but Angelina's parents did. Ever so graciously, Angelina's parents allowed them to all camp out in the living room, although with a playful warning about making too much noise. Everyone looked at Fred and George, who promptly exchanged faux-innocent glances.

As it turned out, no one really needed to worry about the twins. The group tried to keep up conversation for a while, but they were so tired from the day's events that they soon dropped into unconsciousness.

* * *

At breakfast the next morning, Angelina announced her intention to bring them all down to the village for the day. Katie strongly suspected that Angelina was trying to prevent the entire weekend from being taken up by quidditch. Oliver seemed a bit disappointed, but didn't argue, perhaps because Angelina was eyeing him in a challenging fashion.

After breakfast the group adorned themselves in muggle clothing, something which they had all had to do the day before in order to approach Angelina's house without arousing suspicion from any passersby.

It was a quaint, quiet village which appeared upon first glance to be made up entirely of muggles. However, upon closer inspection, various witches and wizards could be seen intermingling with the rest of the villagers.

Fred and George quickly disappeared, most likely to test their latest creations on unsuspecting townspeople. Angelina was briefly panicked that the twins would draw attention to themselves, but she soon relented in tracking them down, probably realizing the work involved in keeping tabs on them for the rest of the day. After effectively giving up on Fred and George, Angelina lead the remainder of the group to an antique shop she was fond of, and which she described as "fascinatingly mundane." Alicia and Katie were politely interested, but Oliver somehow managed to get into an argument with a wizard in the back of the store about the Holyhead Harpies' chances in this year's league cup. The chasers ignored him for as long as they could, but as the argument escalated in volume and began to draw the attention of the confused looking shopkeeper, they were forced to drag Oliver from the store.

"Can you believe that? He was actually trying to convince me that-"

"We _know_, Oliver, we were _there_." Alicia rolled her eyes as they exited the shop. Oliver looked at her, a wild intensity in his eyes.

"Yes, but you weren't _listening_."

"We're supposed to be inconspicuous, Oliver!" Angelina whispered harshly. Oliver faltered.

". . . right, sorry." Oliver smiled apologetically. Angelina rolled her eyes in response.

"Well," she said with a note of surrender, "we should probably be getting back to the house anyway, it's almost lunch time." She sighed and looked around, "has anyone seen Fred and George?"

* * *

When the twins had finally been located and properly rounded up, the group headed back to Angelina's house. They were all so tired that the trek back was rather dreary, but around the lunch table friendly and cheerful conversation resumed. Afterwards, the group decided that it might be nice to play quidditch a bit-since they probably wouldn't all be together again like this for a while. This delighted Oliver to no end. Tonight's game was not like the previous night's however, no. While their last game had been spirited fun at being reunited, this game somewhat resembled their old practices. Perhaps it was because Oliver had again grown used to them, and had settled back into his old routine. Whatever it was, he didn't hesitate to offer up comments or correct them, and perhaps the group had grown used to him again as well, as no one said anything about it. Nonetheless, their game was cheerful and fun, and lasted until dinner.

* * *

Perhaps because the day involved less quidditch, the group managed to stay awake a bit longer. Alicia was the first to fall asleep. In fact, Alicia fell into such a quick and deep sleep, that the others could hardly resist jokes that she had perhaps been bewitched, or placed under a particularly powerful sleeping draft. The others talked and joked for a while after that, but soon Katie began to feel sleepy, and she settled herself in the nest of blankets that surrounded them.

* * *

When she awoke it was still nighttime. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. Yawning, she waited for the room to come into focus. She spotted Alicia, still asleep, and one of the twins sprawled out not far from her. Oliver was passed out perpendicular to her, and she noticed embarrassedly that their feet were tangled together awkwardly. She quickly, but carefully freed herself and glanced around the rest of the room. For a moment, she thought that perhaps the shadows were playing tricks on her, but as her eyes adjusted to the light of the room she realized that she was not mistaken. Angelina and one of the twins were missing. Probably Fred.

Not really wanting to pry, but being the tiniest bit concerned for their well-being and unable to sleep anyway, Katie crept away from the nest of blankets and towards the door leading to the backyard. She was about slowly open the door, when she heard soft laughter coming from the other side of it. She tiptoed over to a nearby window and peered out to see Angelina and Fred sitting side by side on a grassy patch near the door. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but they seemed to be smiling at each other. They exchanged a few more words, and then fell silent. Suddenly, Katie felt as though she was intruding on something intimate. Before she could process what to do next, the pair leaned in for a kiss. Katie let out a surprised squeak and quickly ducked beneath the window.

Thoroughly embarrassed, and with her face growing hotter by the second, Katie quickly crawled back towards the blankets. She curled herself up in her previous spot and tried to appear relaxed in case Fred and Angelina came back in. But they must not have heard her because they didn't come in right away. The more time passed, the more relaxed Katie became. Her breathing slowed, and her face cooled, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she shouldn't really be surprised. Everyone already sort of knew that Fred and Angelina fancied one another. Yes, indeed, Katie should not be surprised. She glanced over at Oliver, he was still fast asleep. Slowly, so as not to wake anyone or rustle the blankets too much, Katie pushed herself across the floor until she was parallel with her former captain. She examined his face, the flare of his nostrils and the gradual rise and fall of his chest. She wondered what kind of girl Oliver fancied, what kind of girl Oliver _really_ fancied, what kind of girl could ever possibly make this awkward, quidditch-obsessed boy ever attempt to be romantic, if any girl possibly could.

Katie stared at him for a long time, pondering this question, searching his image for clues. As she drifted once again into unconsciousness, her final thought was that really, such a girl probably did not exist.

* * *

After breakfast the next day, the group prepared to go home. Most of them were old enough to apparate, but Oliver and Alicia both found the sensation…unpleasant, and instead opted to use floo powder-once Angelina's family had politely offered of course. Katie's mother had apparated her to the house to make sure that she wasn't abandoning her daughter in some remote location, but for the return trip Katie was also travelling the floo network. So they all gathered in Angelina's living room, crunched together in the rather loud space as they all hugged and shouted their goodbyes in order to be heard above everyone else's goodbyes. Katie said a rather lengthy goodbye to Angelina and Alicia, wherein they all hugged one another tightly and promised to write. Fred and George teased her slightly, but she was sad to see them go as well. Katie also noticed that as the twins said goodbye to Angelina, she and Fred exchanged glances and slight smiles. But she turned away from them, she had one last person to say goodbye to.

"Goodbye, Katie." He said softly.

"Bye, Oliver." Her voice was almost as quiet as his. When they separated from their embrace, Katie noticed Oliver was looking at her with a rather odd expression. She wondered for a brief moment if he was going to say something, but then Alicia came over to tell them that the twins were leaving, and Oliver's eyes quickly shifted to her.

"Oh, I should say goodbye then." He gave one last wave at Katie before he hurried off. Katie watched him go, wondering to herself how much hope there really was in liking someone like Oliver Wood.


	6. Sixth Year

"Can you believe the _nerve_ of her? Interrupting Dumbledore like that!" Katie fumed. Walking back to the Gryffindor common room with Leanne in tow, Katie voiced her various concerns about the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher. "She did some like a rather horrid little woman . . ." Leanne agreed. Katie and Leanne continued chatting until they reached the common room, but as soon as they walked through the door they were interrupted by Angelina and Alicia. While Angelina seemed just as normal as ever, Alicia approached with a look of pure excitement on her face.

"Are you two talking about Umbridge? She was just _horrid_ wasn't she? But never mind that now- listen to this! Angelina's only just told me, she's our new quidditch captain!"

"Angelina! That's wonderful!" Katie said. She truly was excited for Angelina, but that didn't stop a quick image of Oliver from flitting through her mind. Angelina rolled her eyes. "It's alright I suppose." She said.

"She absolutely refuses to be excited about it-but I know she's quite pleased." Alicia whispered to Katie and Leanne. They both giggled. Well, at least there was still quidditch, Umbridge couldn't possibly ruin that.

* * *

Katie had almost forgotten the very small matter of filling in the position of Keeper. Oliver had graduated, so of course they needed one, it had just slipped her mind. Luckily, it had not slipped Angelina's, and after tryouts a new Keeper was introduced to the team. Ron Weasley, Harry's best friend, and Fred and George's younger brother.

At practice, she observed him. He was a bit awkward and nervous, and not up to par with Oliver, but Katie supposed he could be much worse. However, perhaps the most surprising part of practices now was Angelina's style of leadership. Her neurotic yelling and strict behavior were somewhat reminiscent of Oliver Wood, who Angelina had always criticized for his obsessive way of leading the team. Harry even jokingly suggested that they should check if Oliver had been offed during practice with Puddlemere, as Angelina seemed to be channeling his spirit.

Katie laughed.

* * *

While wandering the grounds one cloudy, Saturday afternoon, Katie was admiring the quiet sway of the Whomping Willow when she came upon a boy. He was lying on the ground not far from the tree, and was eyeing in uneasily.

"You should really move!" Katie called out, approaching him a bit. The boy was silent for a moment, but then hesitantly called out, "Who is that?"

"I'm Katie, Katie Bell."

"From the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" he asked.

"That's me." Katie now only stood a few feet from him. The boy sighed in relief.

"Good, could you maybe help me? I got into a bit of a scuff you see with some of the blokes from Slytherin, jelly-legs jinx." He seemed eager to get the story out, making Katie think that he had perhaps been there for a while. She performed the counter-curse, and watched as quickly righted himself. He swayed a bit, from being on the ground so long, but once he was standing at full height he flashed her a surprisingly charming smile.

"Oh- you're Malcolm Preece." Katie recognized him from as a chaser from the Hufflepuff quidditch team.

"That's me." He said cheerily. He was the same year as her, slightly taller, with sandy blonde hair and boyish looks.

"Thanks for saving me," he said, and then clasped his hand and held them up to his face, raising his voice to a high pitched sing-song voice as he said, "my hero!" Katie giggled. He laughed, and then looked down embarrassedly. "So, uh, where're you going?"

"Just wandering." Katie shrugged.

"Mind if I join you?" Katie paused, her smile faltered a bit. He seemed nice, she wanted to walk with him, but for some reason felt hesitant to do so.

"You don't have to- I'm just a bit worried about what'll happen to me if those Slytherin kids come back." He laughed nervously. Katie recollected herself and smiled again.

"No- I'd love you to come."

* * *

Since Umbridge was refusing to teach anyone anything useful about defense against the dark arts, Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione had begun a group, affectionately named "Dumbledore's Army." Of course, Katie, Angelina, Alicia, Fred and George all joined. Leanne joined as well.

The DA meetings were educational, enjoyable, and contained a certain excitement that surrounded anything breaking the rules, particularly in breaking _Umbridge's_ rules.

* * *

The first quidditch match was a victory for Gryffindor, but shortly afterwards, three players were expelled from the by Dolores Umbridge. They lost Fred, George, and Harry for attacking. Draco Malfoy players after Malfoy made a nasty comment. They were out three players. The team was understandably upset, but their annoyance was nothing compared to Angelina's fury. She was upset with all three of them, but seemed particularly cross with Fred, Katie spotted her yelling at him rather fiercely in the halls one day. Nonetheless, what was done was done, and no one could change it. Fred and George were replaced by Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper, and Harry was replaced by Ginny Weasley, Fred, George, and Ron's younger sister.

* * *

This year was growing continuously more horrendous. Umbridge was a tyrant, three of Katie's friends had been kicked off the quidditch team, and to top it off, she had a somewhat unpleasant run in with the Ravenclaw Seeker the other day. Cho Chang, a girl in Katie's year and Harry's sort-of-girlfriend, had approached her during a lull in one of their DA meetings.

Katie had never known Cho very well, and thus had no real opinion of her. However, the other day Cho had come up to her, and after expressing her apologies that Fred, George, and Harry had been expelled from quidditch, inquired rather earnestly about how Katie's boyfriend was doing. When Katie only eyed with a look of confusion, Cho pressed that it was none of her business, but she had been somewhat curious as she had seen Katie chatting with Malcolm Preece quite frequently as of late. Katie continued to stare at her in confusion, but as Cho seemed unwilling to let up, Katie slowly said, ". . . I'm sorry, but who do you mean?"

"The old Gryffindor captain . . ." Cho trailed off, she now looked about as confused as Katie.

"You mean Oliver Wood?" Katie asked. Cho immediately brightened at the recognition, "Yes-him!"

"Oliver and I aren't a couple." Katie told her rather stiffly. Cho's smile faltered, "Oh, I'm sorry, when did you two split up?"

"We were never together." Katie snapped. Cho, suddenly looking awkward, stood there for a few moments longer before uttering an apology, smiling politely and walking away.

After that, Katie decided that didn't much like Cho Chang. How rude of her, to assume Katie had ever been in a relationship with Oliver, and then to even imply that Katie might be _cheating_! What a horribly rude, gossipy girl. Katie avoided her from then out, and thankfully, Cho never approached her again, apparently their encounter had been as dissatisfying to her as it had been to Katie.

* * *

As the holidays rolled around, Katie prepared to return home. She bid goodbye to Leanne, Angelina, and Alicia, and even said a brief farewell to Malcolm, who she ran into after classes and suspected of waiting for her.

However when she finally returned home she couldn't fully enjoy the holiday, as she was worrying about Mr. Weasley, apparently he had been attacked, and all the Weasley children –with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger in tow, had rushed to home to him. However, shortly after Christmas had passed she received an owl that Mr. Weasley was apparently recovering, and would be fine. After receiving the letter she was in significantly higher spirits, and felt that she could finally enjoy the rest of her holiday.

Not long after Christmas, Katie had just finished her transfiguration homework, and was settling down to read the next chapter of a novel she was enjoying when her mother entered the room with a letter.

"Katie dear, a letter just arrived for you." He mother held out the envelope. Katie took it, thanked her mother, and then sat the letter down beside her before returning to her book. She and Leanne had been corresponding throughout the holiday, and while she enjoyed their conversations she was at present more eager to find out what happened next in her book.

Time passed quickly, and before Katie knew it she had read through almost her entire book, and it was time for bed. Katie stuffed the letter into her novel, using it as a bookmark, and ascended the staircase to ready herself for bed.

The next day her aunt and uncle came to visit, they spend the night and since most of the time was spent with games and idle chatter, the letter stay forgotten for another two days until her relatives departed.

After hugs and heartfelt goodbyes, Katie went up to her room thinking of finishing her book, when she noticed the letter peeking out from between its pages. Suddenly she remembered Leanne, and quickly replaced the letter with a folded piece of paper. She tried to remember when she had gotten the letter, and just when she was calculating how long it would take her response to reach Leanne, she noticed that the tiny, cramped writing on the envelope was not Leanne's handwriting. Katie squinted, staring at the writing in an attempt to identify it, but she didn't recognize it. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Katie hastily tore open the envelope. She unfolded the letter and scanned it quickly. Katie inhaled sharply, and then slowly lowered herself onto her bed.

It was from Oliver.

_Dear Katie,_

_How are you? Well, I hope. I ran into Alicia over the holidays while doing some Christmas shopping in Diagon Alley, she said she was glad I was alive. I don't really know what she meant by that because she wouldn't explain, you don't happen to know do you? You miss so many inside jokes when you're not part of a team anymore. Speaking of, Alicia also told me that Angelina's been made Captain! Imagine that, I suppose she's quite good at it? She always seemed to have plenty of suggestions for me. Alicia also said that you all have found my replacement, Fred and George's brother, and apparently Harry and the twins have been kicked off the team- and they had to be replaced too. Then she went off for a while about Umbridge. I feel I must ask you-what on earth has been happening since I've been away? Anyway, I've been prattling on about Hogwarts when I haven't even been there to experience it! This brings me to the real reason I've written, it's to brag, I'm sorry to say. I hope you'll excuse it, since while I've been known to ramble, I don't think I often brag. The Keeper for Puddlemere United has been in a rather nasty training accident. He's recovering quite nicely though, I tell you this because I know you'll worry if I don't, but really, he's quite alright. He's not ready to play again for a while though, which means I've been temporarily promoted. It's very exciting to be playing so often, I'm quite pleased. How much this information interests you, I can't know, but for some reason I very much wanted to tell you._

_I do hope you're doing well. If you feel so inclined, please write back soon, I'd like to know your (probably more coherent) take on events at Hogwarts. I'd like to know what you're doing in general, too._

_Sincerely,_

_Oliver Wood_

Katie finished the letter, and then read it once over for good measure. He had written to her, she could scarcely believe it. She had always counted Oliver as a friend, and yes, they always seemed quite pleased to see one another but she never dreamed he would write to her. Of course she should respond-he had asked her to, hadn't he? She wondered what she should say.

While she ran through several different versions of her letter in her head, eventually she simply sat down and wrote what came to her. She first expressed her great excitement about his "temporary promotion," and then her slight concern for the injured Keeper. She spoke of this year's quidditch team, which she knew would interest him, and spoke in great detail about their victory against Slytherin, which she knew would please him. She then launched into what turned out to be a rather lengthy rant about Dolores Umbridge, afterwards she apologized for the long unending paragraph. She wrote that she was doing well, and spoke briefly about Leanne and her holiday break. She informed him of Mr. Weasley, but assured Oliver that he was recovering. To close her letter, she wrote about some of the happier goings on of her life, she almost mentioned the funny incident of finding Malcolm lying beneath the Whomping Willow, but as the last second opted not to include it. At the very end of her letter, she asked to hear more about his life, and signed her name at the bottom. As soon as she finished the letter, she stuffed it into an envelope, addressed it to Oliver, and attached it to the family owl.

She went to bed that night in a very pleasant mood.

* * *

To Katie's great pleasure, she and Oliver struck up an easy correspondence, which continued into her return to Hogwarts from the holidays. Even though her friends often commented on her frequent good mood, Katie never told them about Oliver's letters. For some reason, it really never occurred to her to do so, and while her friends were often puzzled by her pleasant disposition under the increasingly awful rule of Dolores Umbridge, they remained unaware of the reasoning behind it. At least, they were unaware until early March, when Katie opened one of Oliver's letters during breakfast and Alicia happened to be walking by.

"Hey . . . is that from Oliver?" Katie froze. Slowly, she lowered the letter to the surface of the table and turned to smile nervously at Alicia.

"It is isn't it? Have you been writing to Oliver?" Alicia sounded positively giddy, but Katie so wished she would be quieter. Leanne, who was sitting next to Katie, was already pestering her with questions, "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

Katie's other friends, who could hear Alicia, were beginning to gather. Soon, Angelina, the twins, and even Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gathered around. While Leanne was still asking questions a mile a minute, Alicia seemed quite happy to exchange knowing glances with Angelina. The twins were making various jokes and comments. Ron joined in at first, but after a particularly cold look from Hermione, he backtracked a bit. Harry was too polite to say anything.

Katie, for her part, could only stutter and slowly go red at the ears. After a few minutes of chatter, Hermione dragged Ron away to class, and Harry was only too happy to go. Fred and George became distracted by something else, and wandering away still bantering. Angelina quickly apologized, noting that they all meant it "in a nice way," and Alicia hastily agreed. After the commotion had died down, however, Alicia and Angelina squeezed into seats beside Katie, both smiling excitedly.

"So . . . what's going on here?" Alicia grinned.

"Yes Katie, what's going _on_?" Leanne asked, though her question had a hint of exasperation, rather than Alicia's playfulness.

"Nothing," Katie said, folding up the letter and stuffing it back into its envelope, "we've just been writing."

"For how long?" Leanne asked. Katie shrugged, "Around Christmas."

"_That long_?" the girls chorused.

"No wonder you've been in such a good mood." Angelina muttered. Katie stood up suddenly, "Look, it's . . . _nice_ that you're all so interested, but it's really not a big deal." She gave what she hoped was a convincing smile, "There's really nothing to talk about, and I need to be getting to class anyways so . . ." Katie gave a cheerful wave and exited the great hall. Once she was through the enormous double doors, she breathed a sigh of relief. She could hear Leanne running after her, but now that the others were gone she didn't care very much.

"Katie!" Leanne said, grabbing onto her friend's arm, "Why didn't you _tell_ me?"

Katie sighed, "I don't know, I suppose I just didn't think to."

"_Katie_." Leanne said sternly. Katie looked at her.

"I honestly didn't think to." The two stared at each other for a moment, but when Katie showed no signs of wavering, Leanne relented.

"So, what do you talk about?"

"Just normal things, school, quidditch, how I'm doing, how he's doing. It's really nothing exciting." Leanne asked a few more questions, but when it seemed that Katie would not be sharing anything of interest, Leanne began speaking excitedly of an attractive Ravenclaw boy who had been flirting with her lately. Katie was glad of the topic change.

* * *

Katie was already not very fond of Cho Chang, but when Marietta Edgecombe betrayed the DA to Umbridge, and Cho defended her, Katie was less fond of her than ever. Revealed to Umbridge, the DA was forced to disband, much to the displeasure of (nearly) all of its members. However, to Katie's delight, Hermione Granger had apparently bewitched the parchment they had all signed upon joining, Marietta now had the word "sneak" written across her face. That made it a bit better, but only a bit. Unfortunately, the DA's exposure had also caused the disappearance of Dumbledore, something which worried the whole school, especially because it meant that Umbridge was now more powerful than ever. This was apparently too much for Fred and George, who then exited the school in a typically outrageous Fred and George-esque style, advertising their new shop amongst fireworks and cheers as they did so.

Katie wished she could leave too.

* * *

The rest of the year moved quickly. Gryffindor played its last quidditch match of the year, which they won. They also won the quidditch cup. Katie relayed the match to Oliver in extensive detail, but this was the last bit of good news the school would have for a while.

After Umbridge's attempt to arrest Hagrid, the school was left with a groundskeeper, Professor McGonagall was injured trying to defend him, Dumbledore was still absent, and Umbridge continued to rampage about the school. Just when all seemed at its worst, Umbridge was attacked by centaurs in the forbidden forest, which was quite funny.

By the end of the year, Dumbledore and Hagrid had returned, Umbridge had been removed, Harry was allowed back onto the quidditch team for next year, and all seemed back to normal. It all got cleaned up quite quickly actually, and Katie couldn't have been more pleased. Perhaps next year might be better.

* * *

With the year quickly coming to a close, the Hogwarts graduation ceremonies seemed out of place, a speck of normalcy in a year of oddities. Fred and George would have graduated this year, but they had left early, so Katie was left saying a tearful goodbye to Angelina and Alicia, who, despite their rather awful final year at Hogwarts, were sad to go. As Katie watched them sail away on the boats, she mused to herself that now she and Harry were the only remaining members of their original team. She supposed next year, the team would be full of mostly new players. Suddenly, she wondered if she would even make the team next year. She was contemplating this rather troubling thought when she came across Malcolm Preece, who wished her an awkward goodbye and made her promise to write to him over the summer holiday. With so few friends still at Hogwarts, Katie was only too happy to agree.


	7. Seventh Year

Over the course of the summer Katie became closer to Malcolm Preece, who she enjoyed corresponding with, and who Leanne was fond of. Leanne herself began dating the attractive Ravenclaw boy she had mentioned to Katie before, and she seemed quite pleased to be doing so, she mentioned him often in her letters. She was still writing to Oliver too, but the initial excitement had begun to wear off. Then, sometime in July he commented on the girl he had been seeing lately, and Katie lost hope completely.

They still wrote to one another, but far less frequently, and their letters were less in depth. Neither mentioned the change. Leanne encouraged Katie to move on, and Katie highly suspected that Leanne wanted her to start dating Malcolm, which actually, wasn't a bad idea. Katie kind of liked Malcolm, and she was quite sure that he liked her, but she didn't feel right about dating him just yet, not with Oliver still fresh in mind.

But as the new school year drew nearer, Katie grew more and more resigned to the idea that she and Oliver might never be together, and to be completely honest, now that he wasn't ever really around her, she thought of him less. By the time September arrived, she felt ready- and eager, to move on. So, when after the opening feast Malcolm approached her after staring at her for most of the meal, and confessed that he rather liked her and would like to see her more, she cheerfully agreed. She was actually a bit surprised, not so much at his confession, but at her own happiness at this arrangement. Yes, she was quite pleased.

* * *

Harry had been chosen as the new quidditch captain, no surprise there, and with most of the team having graduated, Harry decided to hold tryouts for the entire team. Katie asked him not to show her special treatment, but he smiled at her, and seemed quite sure she'd make the team anyways. She felt flattered.

Indeed, she did make the team this year, her new fellow chasers where Ginny Weasley, and Demelza Robbins. Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote replaced Fred and George Weasley, and Ron remained as Keeper, although Cormac McLaggen's rather unusual tryout made Katie highly suspicious that Hermione, who had been sitting in the stands staring rather intently, may have confounded him. Katie probably could have said something about it, but she didn't much like Cormac McLaggen. Besides that, she knew that voicing her suspicions about Hermione would also mean butting into the budding relationship between her and Ron, something else she didn't much feel like interfering in. Plus, Harry and Ron both seemed so pleased that he had made the team that she decided to just ignore it.

Practices were mostly fun, she missed her old team greatly, but her new one seemed nice, and she was glad to playing again. Harry was a good captain, a tad more serious than when he was simply a player, but he was fair, and still somewhat pleasant.

The really nice thing about practices was that Malcolm waited for her outside of the pitch. He didn't sit in the stands, as he felt that the Gryffindor team might not take kindly to someone from an opposing team sitting in on every practice, but Katie enjoyed walking back with him after her training sessions. She and Malcolm had always gotten along well, but now that they were together she found that he really was quite sweet, and very funny, and she enjoyed how much time they were spending together.

* * *

"Katie, I think I'm in love." Leanne sighed. Katie turned to look at her. Leanne was spread across her bed, gazing dreamily up at the ceiling.

"Really?" Katie asked, she couldn't really think of what else to say. Leanne propped herself up on her elbows and looked over at Katie, "I've never felt this way before."

"Maybe you're sick." Katie said jokingly. Leanne rolled her eyes, "I'm _serious_." Leanne sat up straight, and Katie walked over to sit beside her.

"How do you feel?"

"All fluttery, like I'm glowing inside. It's really just . . . it's amazing Katie, I really think I might be in love. I can't even think of the right words to describe it." Leanne fell back onto the bed, and Katie followed suit.

"That proves it then." Katie muttered. Leanne turned to her head, "What?"

"You really _are_ sick." Katie said. Leanne broke into a smile, "Shut up."

* * *

Katie was glad that Leanne was so happy, she really was. But she was seeing so much less of her friend lately that she couldn't help feeling a little lonely. She loved spending time with Malcolm, but after her conversation with Leanne, she often found herself staring at him, wondering if she felt all "fluttery" about him. She wasn't sure.

She liked him. She enjoyed being around him, a certain part of her did lurch excitedly when he held her hand, or when they kissed, and yet she didn't feel that sort of enlightenment that Leanne seemed to be describing.

One afternoon, while she and Malcolm were chatting in the hall, Katie caught a glimpse of him watching her, his eyes warm and his face full of contentment, and she was filled with a sudden warmth. She was happy, she was smitten, and she liked him very much. But she knew then that she wasn't in love with him, because if she really was, than this would be the moment to realize it, to be sure of it, but she wasn't. She wondered if she ever would be.

* * *

"I love Hogsmeade when it snows." Leanne remarked as they entered the village. Katie nodded in silent agreement, she was thinking of the letter she had sent to Oliver this morning, wondering if she should've mentioned Malcolm to him.

"You've been pretty quiet today, Katie." Leanne said softly. Her gently voice snapped Katie out of her thoughts, "Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind." She tried to smile.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Oh, no. Thanks, but no." Katie thanked her politely, but was eager to move on from the subject. She quickly began talking about how could it was and how much she wanted a butterbeer, and Leanne eventually dropped it. The rest of the day Katie attempted to remain cheerful. She talked about visiting Fred and George in their shop when she had been shopping for school supplies this past summer, and she and Leanne visited the various Hogsmeade shops while giggling about some of the twins' old antics, particularly their pranks on Dolores Umbridge.

However shortly before it was time to leave, Katie and Leanne vistied the Three Broomsticks. Katie sat, sipping her butterbeer, when she again fell silent. Leanne leaned forward in her chair, "you should really tell me what's wrong, Katie. You've been acting strange all day." They were both quiet for a moment, and eventually Katie sighed. "Alright, just let me use the bathroom first." She stood up and walked slowly towards the restroom, trying to think of how to explain her complicated and confused feelings about Malcolm to Leanne, but as soon as she entered the bathroom everything went black.

* * *

There were bits and pieces. The snow, falling all around her. Leanne, demanding to know why Katie was suddenly ignoring her and where she got that suspicious package. The cold steel of the necklace on her fingers, and the screaming. The horrible blood-curdling scream that seemed to pour out of her body, and the awful pain that went shooting through every inch of her. The wind violently whipping her hair, and that feeling that she was being pulled in every which direction.

Finally, the feeling of heaviness as a large hairy thing lifted her away, and then nothing.

* * *

When Katie awoke she could hardly move. Her entire body ached in pain, and she had a splitting headache. She could feel that she had been sleeping for a long time, but she felt exhausted.

"Oh dear, you're finally awake." A voice said softly. Katie blinked, the room was quite blurry and she could just make out the outline of a person dressed in lime green. As Katie attempted to sit up, the person patted her shoulder gently, and helped her to sit at a gentle incline.

"There, there dear, you need to rest, you've been through quite an ordeal. I'll get you some water and something to eat." When the person brought her a glass of water and some crackers, they had to feed Katie the water and crackers though, since Katie couldn't hold them on her own. Katie was thankful for the water, but felt too queasy to eat, but the person insisted that she needed something to settle her stomach, so she nibbled on the crackers. While she ate, she stared at the glass of water in an attempt to focus her eyes. The longer it took, the more worried she became that she could no longer see properly. However, after sitting awake for some time, and drinking her water, and nibbling her crackers, the glass slowly came into focus. After Katie was finished, the person sat the water on her bedside table and hurried away. Katie still couldn't move very much, and her head was throbbing. But she was now conscious enough to wonder where she was. She watched as various witches and wizards scrambled about in lime green robes, noticed the logo on their gowns and realized she must be at St. Mungo's. The person in green returned, she was a young looking witch who seemed to be mostly in charge of hovering over Katie incessantly. Katie opened her mouth to ask the witch what had happened to her, but she found she could scarcely move her lips, and when she tried, no sound came out. The witch seemed to notice her trying though, as she quickly scurried over.

"Oh no dear, don't try to speak, you won't be able to. Just relax. I do wonder if you remember at all what happened. You had quite the curse on you, it was awful, just awful. I don't want to shock you- too much excitement isn't good for you in this state, but you've been asleep for the past three months! Oh but don't worry dear, you'll be all right. It will be a long, and difficult recovery mind you, but when you leave St. Mungo's you'll be just as well as you've ever been, and I daresay there are many who will be glad to hear you're doing better. You've had _quite_ a few visitors my dear, quite a few. I daresay you'll see your parents later today, they come by _every day_, and I do think they would never leave if it wasn't for our rules on visiting hours. It's quite troublesome, each day it takes so long for them to leave as they need so much assurance that you're being well cared for. But they needn't worry, St. Mungo's is the greatest wizarding hospital you'll ever see my dear, I'm sure they'll be quite pleased you're awake now, quite pleased indeed."

The witch continued to ramble on for so long, that Katie doubted she could've gotten a word in even if she _could_ speak. The witch's chatting was a bit tiring, but Katie was glad for the company, she was a bit nervous about being alone right now, still not quite sure what had happened.

Had she really been out for three whole months? The last thing she could really remember was being at Hogsmeade with Leanne, but that felt like just a few hours ago. Had it really been _three whole months_? Katie could scarcely believe it. That's when she spotted the nearby tabletop, it was covered in flowers and get well soon cards. She dearly wished she could reach over and read who the cards were from, or smell the flowers, but she could still hardly move. In fact, even sitting propped up by pillows like this was beginning to tire her, and before she knew it she had drifted back to sleep.

* * *

"She's quite tired, it'll take a long time before she's got her energy back." Katie's eyes slowly flitted open. She saw her parents sitting at her bedside, her mother's hand wrapped gently around her as both her parents looked up at the witch from before, who was explaining Katie's delicate state to them. However, as Katie blinked a bit in order to wake up, her parents noticed her. They both turned away from the nurse and leaned into her.

"Hi, sweetie." Her mother whispered, stroking her hand. Both her parents were smiling, and had tears in their eyes. Katie wished she could tell them that everything was alright, but she still couldn't speak.

"We're so happy you're here with us, Katie." Her dad said, and he gently stroked her hair. Katie tried to smile, but the movement hurt.

"You have so many people who love you, Katie," her mom said, sniffing a bit, "your friends come and visit, and send you cards and flowers. I'm not sure if you've seen, but those ugly paisley ones are from your aunt and uncle, they always did have terrible taste." Her parents laughed lightly. "I know all your friends wish they could come more often, but it's so difficult to get here from Hogwarts, especially during the school year." Her dad said.

Her parents stayed as long as visiting hours would permit, and then they both kissed her forehead before they tearfully departed and promised to return tomorrow. Katie again fell asleep, tired from their visit.

Her parents did return the next day, however, because Katie was now awake, her visiting hours had been shortened to allow for more time to rest. Apparently, Katie also slept through most of her visiting periods, meaning she had yet to see any of her friends, even though a few of them had apparently come to see her. However, after another month at St. Mungo's, she was beginning to regain her appetite. Even though it still pained her, she could sit up, smile, and speak, although her voice was hoarse. Laughing hurt, but it was a pleasure to be able to eat on her own, and she busied herself by reading all the cards her friends and relatives had sent her. She couldn't walk, so she had to wait for someone to bring the cards to her, but she was grateful for abilities she had previously taken for granted, such as focusing her eyes, and gripping things. She was also especially glad to have her appetite back, by pinching her sides Katie had realized that she had lost quite a bit of weight, and she would have to bulk up again if she wanted to do things like play quidditch, fit into all of her clothes, or walk properly. She was just finishing a particularly humorous card from Fred and George when a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Katie?"

Katie looked up. There, standing in her doorway, was Oliver Wood. She was so shocked she couldn't think of anything to say. Oliver, on the other hand, seemed to be full of energy. He rushed towards her so quickly that he was standing by her beside in a matter of seconds.

"I came by a few times-quite a few times actually but you were always asleep, even after they said you'd woken up. I didn't hear about it for the longest time actually, your parents heard about it first of course and it spread around the school, but your parents were too upset to write to anybody and when they finally _did_ write they only remembered me because I'd been writing to _you_ and because you didn't respond to my letters-of course you _couldn't_ respond now could you? So then they wrote to me telling me what had happened and of course I came right over but the healers said you hadn't woken up so . . ." he trailed off. He stood there, suddenly silent and staring at his shoes. Katie wasn't quite sure what to say. She was considering making a joke or thanking him or something when he suddenly looked up.

"I-uh, I got you something." He rummaged around in his pocket and pulled out a chocolate frog, offering it to her awkwardly. Katie slowly reached out and took it.

"They said you could have sweets now-so I just popped up to the gift shop to buy it . . ." he watched as she examined the frog, "I suppose it's a big pathetic." He laughed nervously, but Katie smiled.

"Thanks, Oliver." She said softly. Oliver instantly relaxed, and sat down by her bed.

"So . . . how're you feeling?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'm okay, I'm still a bit sore, but I can do little things now like eat and hold things, so that's nice." She said a bit jokingly. Oliver laughed, "That's good, I'm glad."

That chatted for a while longer about things that didn't seem to matter, but were nice to talk about. Things like quidditch, and what Katie had missed while she'd been out. Katie gossiped about Fred and Angelina, which seemed to surprise Oliver greatly, who claimed to have "never noticed that."

After that it was a bit like old times. Now that she was awake and able to talk, her friends dropped by a bit more frequently. Leanne came by as often as she could, but it was difficult with classes. Angelina and Alicia dropped by every so often, even the twins stopped over once or twice. Her parents of course, came every day. Malcolm had the same problem as Leanne, but also like Leanne, he came by as often as he could. However it was Oliver who surprised her. He came by very often, at the very least he came by three times a week. His visits were so frequent in fact, that Katie began to suspect him of skipping quidditch practices, thought that was very hard to believe. She also began getting inquisitive glances from her parents, since he was often there during their visits.

Over the course of her stay at St. Mungo's, Katie also began to gather bits and pieces of what had happened to her, either from the stories her friends relayed to her, or brief flashes from her own memory. After a while, she had gathered a fairly clear picture of what had happened, but no matter how hard she tried to remember, she could not recall where the necklace had come from, or who had cursed her. It was a bit scary, she realized, to have a chunk of your memory missing. She suddenly thought of Gilderoy Lockhart, who she realized must also be somewhere within the walls of St. Mungo's.

However she was snapped out of her thoughts by Oliver, who had come to visit yet again.

"What did you bring me?" Katie asked, her face lighting up as he approached. Oliver often brought little trinkets, since Katie always seemed so pleased to receive them. At this point, she could recognize the cheery expression Oliver wore whenever he had something for her.

Oliver ducked his head and smiled, "You know me too well." He sat down beside her and handed her a snow globe. Katie eagerly held it up to her face and shook it, the movement hardly hurt at all anymore. Inside was a quidditch pitch, with little player inside. She watched the little chasers eagerly toss the quaffle back and forth, and the tiny beaters hitting the bludgers at the other players. The little seekers glanced around, unable to find the snitch in the blizzard.

"It's the Holyhead Harpies vs. the Wimbourne Wasps, 1953." Oliver told her. Katie smiled.

"I know, I recognize them." Katie assured him, then in unison they both chorused, "The harshest snowstorm in quidditch history." Oliver grinned at her. Katie grinned back, but for some reason when she did, Oliver blushed and ducked his head again. Katie watched him fidget nervously, waiting for him to laugh, or make a joke, or start talking about quidditch again. When he only sat there Katie became slightly concerned. She leaned towards him, "Oliver?"

He looked up so quickly that Katie jumped in surprise, but before she could say anything, something else far more shocking happened. Katie felt Oliver's hand on her cheek, and then his lips on hers. Oliver Wood was _kissing_ her. Katie was so shocked that she pulled away, but when she saw his face she wished that she hadn't.

Usually when Oliver was embarrassed, he looked down. However this time he seemed unable to look away from her, staring straight at her face and stuttering madly despite the steady blush working its way across his face. Katie could only stare at him in shock, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open, she imagined she looked a bit like a guppy.

"Oliver . . ." she breathed. He stopped stuttering. He seemed to be waiting for her to continue, she was sort of waiting for herself to continue too, to say something, anything. But apparently all she could was stare dumbly at him. Oliver was looking at her too; he seemed very calm all of a sudden.

"I . . . Katie, I love you."

Katie heard herself inhale sharply.

"I know it might seem sudden," he was looking down again, "but I think I've felt this way for a while."

Katie had so many questions, so many thoughts. How long had he liked her? Why was he telling her this now? Why had he gone out with that girl? Was he still going out with that girl? Why had he mentioned her in his letter? She wanted to say that she had liked him too, so much, for so long. She wanted to say how confused she felt, how she didn't know what to think, what to feel. So much had happened, and there seemed so little time to discuss it all, and she didn't even know where to start. So much was running through her mind, but when she opened her mouth the words that came out were, "I have a boyfriend." She could've jinxed herself if she hadn't already just been cursed. She desperately wished she could take it back, to have responded to his declaration with anything other than such an unfeeling, rejecting statement.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Oliver gave a rather forced laugh. She looked at him, confused, not knowing how to respond. He glanced up at her, but her expression must've reflected her lack of understanding as he quickly looked away again.

"I, uh, I feel so stupid." His voice was shaking. Katie thought she might cry, she felt so awful. She wished he would look at her, or start talking about quidditch. But he didn't do either of those things. Instead he stood up, his eyes still glued to the ground, "I-I'm sorry for uh- bothering you." He muttered, rushing towards the door.

"Oliver!" Katie leaned forward, but she still couldn't walk, she couldn't chase after him. But he heard her, he stopped in her doorway and looked back at her, just for second, "Feel better, Katie." He said softly, and then he was gone.

Katie stared at the doorway, where just a moment ago Oliver had stood. The she collapsed back onto her pillows and groaned. She closed her eyes, replaying the entire scene in her mind, over and over again. She wished she could do it over again, she wished she could take it all back.

* * *

Oliver didn't visit her again. Part of Katie was grateful for this, she didn't know what she would say to him, she supposed he didn't know what to say to her either.

Luckily, she had plenty to busy herself with. She spent a lot of her time studying for her N.E.W.T. exams. Her teachers didn't expect her to do her homework, having been admitted to St. Mungo's for such a long period of time. However, she would still be allowed to take her N.E.W.T.'s, and most of her professors had agreed to help her study when she returned.

Katie's time at St. Mungo's had not been wonderful, it would be quite difficult to be so considering her circumstances. However, having been there for so long she was now acquainted with many of the healers, and quite a few of the patients. The other patients offered friendly conversations- those that were coherent, anyways, but Katie found that she greatly admired the healers. They were so dedicated, so capable, and cared so much. The longer she watched them, the more she thought that they had a very rewarding sort of job. Katie was, in fact, so entranced by the healers, that she sent an owl to Professor McGonagall, asking what it would take to become one.

Professor McGonagall posted back that a healer would be a wonderful career to pursue, and she quite thought that with some studying Katie could achieve the marks to pursue it, despite her rather lengthy absence. Professor McGonagall also wrote that she was pleased to hear from Katie, and glad to hear she was doing well. Finally, she wrote that Katie would need at least an "Exceeds Expectations" in the subjects of Potions, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Charms on her N.E.W.T. exams.

Katie was quite pleased with Professor McGonagall's response, and began studying right away. The witch who had been caring for her was quite excited when she heard that Katie was studying to be a healer, and took to hovering over Katie during her studies, offering suggestions and making slight corrections to Katie's work.

Katie studied so intently, that she found she had almost no time at all to worry about Oliver.

* * *

After six months of recovery at St. Mungo's, Katie was finally released into the care of her parents, and after a week at home, she felt well enough to return to school.

Katie was elated to be back. When she first saw Leanne, they hugged each other so tightly that neither one could breath. They then spent the rest of the month joined at the hip. Malcolm was excited as well, and expressed his thorough delight at her return by chatting incessantly. When he had first seen her walking down the hall with Leanne, he broke into a run and gave her a back-breaking hug, and deep kiss, which made her feel awkward for some reason. Nonetheless, she was pleased to return to her friends and to her school.

Her spirits were dampened a bit when Harry asked if she could remember who cursed her. She knew that he would ask, and felt very awful that she couldn't remember. She told him that she had tried everything, but simply couldn't recall what had happened. Harry was quite understanding about it.

As it turned out, Katie had missed quite a lot while she had been away. Apparently Ron had started dating Lavender Brown, something with took Katie by complete surprise, as she had thought he and Hermione had been getting rather close lately. Apparently after _that_ Ron had gotten poisoned- how awful, and shortly after that he and Lavender had ended. That was probably for the best though, as just the other day she saw Ron and Hermione walking down the hall chatting, and looking quite pleased to be doing so.

She heard that Dean Thomas had taken over her spot on the team, and the rather annoying Cormac McLaggen had taken over Ron's. However, they were both now well enough to resume their positions, so Katie didn't have to worry about deal with MacLaggen on the field. She was quite eager to get back to practice.

Katie kept very busy the next few weeks. Between quidditch practice, studying for her N.E.W.T.'s and trying to fit in as much time with her friends as possible before the year ended, she had very little time to think of anything else, which was just the way she liked it.

* * *

Soon it was time for Gryffindor's final match of the season. Katie had missed the first two matches, so she was pleased to be able to play at least once. Unfortunately, Harry had detention and would be unable to play, so Ginny Weasley would replace him as Seeker, and Dean Thomas would take Ginny's position as chaser, which was ironic as Dean had previously been filling in for Katie.

To Katie's utter delight, the Gryffindor team won not only the match, but the quidditch cup! It was in Katie's eyes, a rather excellent way to end her Hogwarts quidditch career.

Not to mention the rather exciting celebration party where Harry showed up and snogged his replacement.

If only the year had ended right then.

* * *

Katie didn't manage to take her N.E.W.T. exams as all exams had been postponed and classes cancelled, but it hardly seemed to matter. After an attack on Hogwarts by the death eaters, Dumbledore had been murdered by Severus Snape.

Dumbledore's funeral was held on the last day of school, everyone attended. Katie sat wedged between Leanne and Malcolm. Leanne was crying softly, and occasionally wiped her eyes with the end of her sleeve. Macolm merely stared straight ahead, as though was too stunned to speak.

Seated not far from her, Katie spotted Oliver. He noticed her as well, and they exchanged small, sad smiles. She wished she could sit with him.


	8. Summer

Katie's parents did the best to comfort their daughter over the course of the summer, but they were quite upset themselves. Dumbledore's death had affected the entire wizarding world. Everyone shared not only in grief, but in fear. The protection Dumbledore had once offered was gone, and everyone knew that a war was brewing.

The ministry had been corrupt for a long time, but apparently with Dumbledore gone they were no longer trying to hide it, and nasty rumors had been spreading about policies at Hogwarts next year.

Katie spent the majority of the summer attempting to adjust to normal life. She also spent as much time as she could with Leanne and Malcolm. Now that they had all graduated, they had little to occupy their time.

However, around mid-July she got an owl from Malcolm, excitedly telling her that he had gotten quidditch tickets to the Falmouth Falcons vs. Puddlmere United and wanted her to come. Katie rather halfheartedly agreed. She loved quidditch, and any other time she would be pleased to go to match, even right now she would probably consider a quidditch match to be a pleasant pick me up if it wasn't for the one small matter of Oliver. She would really rather not go and risk running into him, but Malcolm had been so depressed lately and seemed to excited about the tickets. Plus, she didn't really want to have to explain to Malcolm why she was reluctant to go. Besides, Oliver was on the reserve team and probably wouldn't even play, and on the off chance that he did, the crowd was so large that the chances he would notice her were quite slim.

* * *

Malcolm and Katie arrived early and took their seats without much hassle. This gave them plenty of time to chat about their summers and allowed Katie time to relax and resign herself to being there. In fact, the longer she sat in the stands with Malcolm the more excited she felt about the match. It had been so long since she had attended an official game that she had almost forgotten the excitement of a large stadium and professional teams.

Soon enough, the match was starting, and the commentator announced the teams. The Falmouth Falcons entered first, the commentator called each of them by name and gave a brief background on the players as they glided around the stadium on their broomsticks. Then Puddlmere United entered, and amongst their players was Oliver. Katie was so surprised that she missed the commentator's introductions on most of the team.

"Hey-isn't that Oliver Wood?" Macolm asked, prodding Katie excitedly.

"-and Oliver Wood," the commentator announced.

"It _is_ him! You were on the team with him, right Katie? How weird that he's here!" Macolm said. Katie nodded and smiled weakly, she couldn't believe he was playing today, what were the chances? However, as Katie listened to the commentator, she began to see just how strange the turn of events had been. Apparently Puddlmere United's old Keeper had retired. After recovering from their previous injuries, they had returned to the sport only to find that they had greatly enjoyed their time off, so they had retired from the game only last month. As a result, Oliver had been promoted to a full time player.

Katie was happy for him, truly she was, and couldn't help but swell with a bit of pride that Oliver was doing so well. But more powerful than her pride was her shock, and sudden fear that he would notice her. She tried to remind herself how tiny the odds were that he would spot her in the crowd, but was unable to bury her anxious feelings. Fortunately, Malcolm was too entranced by the game to notice.

Katie spent the first half hour of the game slouched in her seat and not paying very much attention, too focused on hiding from Oliver to notice much about the game. But after a half an hour had passed, and Oliver had not seen her, Katie relaxed a bit. After another half an hour, Katie was drawn in by a rather impressive pass between two of the Puddlmere chasers as they narrowly avoided the simultaneous attack of both bludgers. Soon, Katie was cheering and screaming as loudly as any of the other fans- particularly when Oliver rather impressively stopped the quaffle after the Falcons chasers' had attempted an inventive strategy.

It was an exciting match, and after three hours of playing Puddlemere, was up by 20 points when both seekers suddenly dove towards the ground with their hands outstretched. The crowd held their breath in excitement. Both seekers screeched to a halt, and then rose back up again. The crowd watched with bated breath, when Benjy Williams- seeker from Puddlmere United, held up the golden snitch. The crowd's response was deafening. The large screen suspended within the stadium showed a close up of Benjy's beaming face, and then began showing images of excited fans.

Malcolm and Katie were gripping onto each other tightly, jumping up and down and screaming at the top of their lungs. They turned to each other, both yelling things the other couldn't possibly hope to hear when Malcolm grabbed Katie by the waist and kissed her full on the mouth. Katie wrapped her arms around his neck. She was full of adrenaline- of excitement. When they pulled away they grinned at each other for a moment when Malcolm- his arm still wrapped around her waist, suddenly whipped his head around and pointed at the screen.

"Hey! Katie- look! We're on the screen!"

Katie spun around so quickly that she elbowed the wizard standing behind her. She saw a brief flash of her own horrified face on the screen before her and Malcolm's images disappeared, replaced by other fans celebrating.

She looked at the quidditch pitch, wondering if there was any way that Oliver might not have seen that. She spotted him, still hovering near the goalposts, his head turned up towards the screen, but she couldn't see his face.

That was when suddenly, and without much warning, a bludger hit Oliver square in the head and knocked him clear off his broom. Luckily, one of the chasers managed to catch him, though he fumbled a bit under Oliver's weight.

The commentator stopped in his screams of congratulations to comment on the scene, "Oh dear, it seems one of the beaters from the Falmouth Falcons has not taken the loss well, knocking a well-aimed bludger straight at the Puddlemere's new keeper- who seemed to be distracted by something or another. Perhaps the shock of victory immobilized him?" the commentator said jokingly, "ah well, looks like they're carrying him off the pitch now. I do hope he's alright, that looked like quite a nasty head injury."

"We have to check if he's okay!" Katie said without really thinking. She rushed out of the stands with Malcolm close behind. She tried to get out as quickly as she could, but it was quite difficult to make her way through all the witches and wizards, who were screaming, cheering and crying, overcome with such emotion over the outcome of the game.

When they finally managed to clear the stands, and Malcolm had caught up with her, he quickly reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.

"Wait-Katie, wait." He wheezed, trying to regain his breath. When he finally did, he stood up a little straighter and looked her straight in the eye.

"Now," he said, "where are we going?"

"I need to see if Oliver's alright." She said.

"Oh, right. He's your friend isn't he? That was a pretty nasty blow to the head."

"Yeah." Katie replied, too focused on finding Oliver to pay much attention to Malcolm's ramblings. They spent a good long time looking for the lockers rooms. Such a while that Malcolm grew tired, and went to find the bathroom. He told her he'd wait for her outside the pitch. This suited Katie just fine, she felt more comfortable going to see Oliver alone, anyways. When she finally found the locker rooms, she had a hard time getting in.

She was just outside, trying to convince the Puddlmere chaser who had caught Oliver to let her in to see him. But when he showed no signs of relenting, she sighed and asked to know if he was at least okay.

"He'll be fine, miss. Quidditch players are used to being beaten around a bit." He assured her as though she knew nothing about quidditch.

"Oh- I know, I'm just worried about him. I was on the team with him you see- back at Hogwarts that is."

"Wait," the chaser stopped her, "Katie Bell?"

Katie's eyes widened in surprise, and she stuttered slightly in response, "W-well, uh-yeah."

The chaser smiled, in fact he looked almost on the verge of laughter and Katie was again, surprised.

"Oh, Wood's mentioned you," he said, "you can go right in."

Katie was a bit unnerved by the chaser's behavior, but chose not to say anything, for fear he would retract his offer to let her in. Instead, she walked swiftly and nervously into the locker room. The other players glanced at her, but otherwise did not pay her much attention. She quickly noticed Oliver lying on a bed in the back.

There were quite of few of these cheap, foldable beds in the back, which Katie assumed were there for just such situations as these. As she approached, she noticed Oliver was unconscious, and felt a bit relieved that she wouldn't have to think of anything to say to him.

In fact, she didn't really know what to do now that she was here, she didn't think much before she had rushed off to see him. She had been in such a panic after the match that she supposed she didn't think it through much. She had really just wanted to know if he was okay, but from the bludger or the kiss she wasn't quite sure.

However, while she was staring at Oliver and attempting to gather her thoughts, she suddenly realized that the room had gone silent. Already suspecting what was happening, she turned very slowly towards the rest of the locker rooms. Sure enough, the Puddlemere United team was standing in a clump, peering over each other's shoulders and watching her with amused smiles and mild interest. Katie smiled weakly and gave a hesitant wave. A few of them waved back, most of them smiled wider. One of the chasers, a pretty brunette, actually said something, "You're Katie Bell, right?" Katie nodded slowly.

"He's mentioned you," the chaser said, pointing at Oliver. Katie wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.

". . . we- uh, used to play together. Back at school." She said. The chaser only smiled and nodded. The team was still staring at her, and Katie was growing increasingly uncomfortable.

"I-I'd better go . . ." Katie muttered, her face growing red as she began towards the door.

"No-don't mind us! Stay, just stay." The chaser said quickly. The other players added a few comments in agreement. Katie, unsure of what to do, stood there awkwardly for a few moments before hesitantly settling herself on a chair beside Oliver. The other players turned away and pretended to occupy themselves with other things, though Katie knew they were all still watching her.

So Katie sat there, not really sure if she should say something, or if she should leave. She looked down at Oliver, who was fast asleep. She watched the steady rise and fall of his chest, and noticed that the Puddlemere robes- which had recently been changed from brown to blue, seemed to suit him quite nicely, despite the fact that Oliver was coated in sweat, dirt, and blood.

She stayed for a period of time which felt much longer than it probably actually was. But she knew that he wouldn't wake up for a long while still, and she still wasn't sure if she really wanted to talk to him. So Katie stood up, and after bidding the team and awkward farewell, left the locker rooms and headed off to find Malcolm.

* * *

It was odd, but Katie couldn't remember what happened during those few weeks between the quidditch match and the day she received Alicia's letter.

Everyone knew that something was coming. The ministry was falling apart, and Hogwarts was quickly become a corrupt, and dangerous place. People were beginning to panic, to say their goodbyes, to take this one last chance to say and do everything they'd always wanted to. So really, Katie should've expected the letter from Alicia, she should have expected that someone would send her a letter like this.

It was an invitation to Alicia's wedding. Marriages and Elopements were becoming increasingly more common what with everything that had been happening lately. She had heard that the Weasleys' oldest brother was getting married too, to that veela girl from the Triwizard Tournament.

Katie supposed she should be happy for her friend, and she was a bit. But deep in the pit of her heart she felt sorrowful.

* * *

Katie arrived smiling at Alicia's wedding wearing emerald green dress robes, with her hair topped off in a bun. She hugged Angelina, met Alicia's beaming family, and tugged Malcolm around the room to admire all the pretty decorations. The twins, unfortunately, could not make it. They seemed to be quite busy, and Katie had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with Harry and his friends.

However, Leanne was there. She and Alicia had gotten to know each other a bit as they were both friends with Katie, and apparently Alicia had seen fit to invite her. Katie was quite pleased, and she, Leanne, and Angelina sat in the bride's dressing room and gossiped and giggled while Alicia rolled her eyes and worried about her hair. They were eventually shooed out by Alicia's two sisters, who were both bridesmaids, for making too much noise and distracting the bride. Angelina, who was the third bridesmaid, was allowed to stay. This left Katie and Leanne to wander about with Malcolm. However, their giggling and eagerness to catch up began to bore him, and he eventually found his way over to some other guests who seemed more open to his company.

Soon enough, it was time for the ceremony to begin. Katie, Leanne, and Malcolm sat in a huddle watching the scene unfold. Katie expected to feel the same sorrowful pit in her stomach she had felt when she received her invitation. But to her pleasant surprise, Katie felt rather light the entire service. Alicia looked absolutely beautiful in her white gown, and the groom stared at her so sweetly, that Katie and Leanne couldn't help but dab their eyes as the couple said their vows. When they were pronounced man and wife, Katie clapped just as loudly as everyone else.

* * *

At the reception, Katie, Angelina, and Leanne sat gathered around Alicia and her new husband, gushing about how beautiful the service had been. Alicia blushed so deeply, and thanked them so sincerely that Katie couldn't help but think to herself, "_they look so happy," _and indeed they did. So happy, so happy to be taking this risk, to be seizing this moment to be together at a time when the future was so uncertain. For the first time since she had left St. Mungo's, Katie allowed herself to think back to that moment, which in her mind was so slow and quiet, where Oliver had looked at her and said something so wonderfully honest.

It suddenly occurred to her that she may have very little time left to be honest, and that thought shook her to the core. Then, suddenly, as though she had summoned him, Oliver appeared.

"Oliver!" Katie squeaked, turning a violent scarlet and suddenly sitting up in her seat. Her friends quickly turned towards the noise. Oliver stood before them, dressed quite nicely, and smiling quite embarrassedly, he waved at them. Angelina and Alicia jumped up in excitement, and quickly threw their arms around their former captain.

"Oliver! I wasn't sure you were coming – you never responded to my invitation." Alicia's excited tone quickly turned to one of playful scolding.

"Ah, well, sorry about that. It was a bit of a . . . last minute decision." He said. Katie noticed as his eyes quickly flickered to her, and then away again.

"You look just lovely though, it was a beautiful service, just beautiful." Oliver said. Alicia grinned from ear to ear. Angelina and Alicia seemed eager to catch up with him, and both began chatting with him excitedly. It wasn't long before Alicia pulled her new husband up from his seat, eager to introduce him to her old friend.

But Katie couldn't hear their conversation, all she could hear was a faint humming noise that seemed to drown out the entire room, and it seemed all she could do was stare at Oliver with her mouth gaping open like an infant.

"_Katie!_"

Katie snapped out of her trance as she felt a hand on her arm. She quickly turned towards the noise which had punctured her bubble of thought. It was Leanne, sitting next to her and looking quite concerned.

"Katie, are you all right?" she asked, worry plastered across her small features.

"O-Oh, uh, y-yeah. I'm fine, I just . . ." but Katie trailed off as her eyes landed on Oliver again. Alicia and her husband had left to go talk to some other guests, and Angelina was patting him on the shoulder, looking as if she was about to leave too. She was just walking away – Oliver was waving at her – when she heard another voice.

"Katie!" Leanne shook her again. Katie quickly tore her eyes away to look back at Leanne. But before she could say anything, or offer any sort of explanation, Malcolm fell into the chair next to her.

"You wouldn't _believe_ the line to get a refreshment, it's _mad_."

"Malcolm!" Katie squeaked. She seemed to be doing an awful lot of that lately, she wondered if she had been transfigured into a mouse. However, this particular squeak seemed to have drawn Oliver away from staring at the ceiling, as his eyes quickly fixed on Katie and her boyfriend. Malcolm was in the middle of staring at Katie with a look on confusion, when he noticed Oliver standing there.

He immediately rose and plastered an enormous grin on his face.

"Hey! You're Oliver Wood, right?" he held out his hand, which Oliver took hesitantly. Katie immediately shot up, standing just slightly behind Malcolm, her eyes darting back and forth between them. There was a burning sensation on her back, where she knew she too was being watched with great interest, this time by Leanne.

"That'd be me." Oliver said politely.

"Me and my girlfriend saw you play last month! You two were on the team together right?" Malcolm oozed enthusiasm, but Katie was secretly horrified that he had just referred to her as his _girlfriend_. Although, she supposed it was _true._ Malcolm and Oliver were still shaking hands, but Oliver's eyes were fixated on Katie.

"Yeah . . . I know." Oliver and Malcolm stopped their rather lengthy handshake, and Oliver turned back to Malcolm, his face suddenly shifting into a polite and interested smile. "You two were on the big screen – right at the end I believe."

Malcolm blushed a bit, but that was nothing compared to how red Katie turned.

"Oh, _that_. Well, you know, got lost in the excitement and all." Malcolm shrugged. Oliver nodded politely. Katie wished she could be struck down by a sudden bolt of lightning.

"Oh!" Malcolm exclaimed suddenly, making both Oliver and Katie jump.

"But . . . you knew we were there, right?" Malcolm said. Katie froze, her eyes glued to the ground.

"Because Katie went to go and see you, right after you took that bludger to the head?" he said it as though it was question, as if he was asking them if it had really happened. Oliver didn't move. For one horribly long moment, they were completely silent. No one even breathed. Malcolm was waiting patiently, obviously not thinking much of his question. But Katie was watching Oliver with bated breath. For his reaction, for his response. Of course she guessed that his teammates may have told him about her visit, since they themselves seemed so interested in it. But now she was wondering if he had known about it.

Suddenly Oliver looked up, his polite smile returning.

"I was out for the rest of the night . . . I wouldn't have really noticed a visitor." He hadn't answered. Malcolm and Oliver both laughed. Katie was trying to smile, but she was still unsure of how to feel.

* * *

The reception carried on, and soon Katie was on the dance floor with Malcolm. Out there, she felt less anxious about Oliver, but felt very exposed, as she knew he could still see her. For whatever reason – probably because he knew so few of the guests – he had decided to perch himself in their cluster of seats. So as Katie and Malcolm danced, Oliver and Leanne sat chatting, engaged in a conversation that Katie could not be a part of. She didn't want Malcolm to notice anything and start asking questions, so she tried not to stare. But deep down, more than anything, Katie wanted to sit with Oliver, alone, and talk about everything.

The dance ended. Malcolm, sensing the distance between them, went to go talk to the other guests. To be honest, Katie was grateful that he did so, but felt a bit bad about it. She slowly made her way over to the table were Oliver and Leanne sat. As Leanne noticed her approaching, she quickly excused herself to go find Angelina, and gave Katie a reassuring pat on the shoulder as she passed.

Katie arrived, and seated herself beside Oliver, who smiled politely at her. She smiled back. Then they both looked away. For a moment, they just sat there, staring down at the tablecloth and not saying anything. Katie couldn't stand it. She opened her mouth to speak, but Oliver beat her to it.

"He seems nice." He said softly. Katie was baffled.

"Who?" she asked stupidly.

"Your boyfriend." Oliver said simply.

"Oh." Katie blushed, feeling like an idiot for not realizing what he had meant, and feeling horrible that Oliver had called Malcolm her _boyfriend_. Though again, it _was_ true.

"I was uh, surprised to see you at the game." Oliver was moving his glass of water around the table. The moisture from the glass followed the cup around, and spread across the repellent tablecloth.

"Malcolm had tickets and wanted to go." She replied quickly. Oliver nodded, but didn't say anything. He continued to stare at his glass. Suddenly, something occurred to Katie, and before she could process the thought she had already spat it out at Oliver rather urgently.

"Where's your girlfriend?"

Oliver immediately stopped moving the glass. Katie held her breath, not daring to breath, not even daring to think as she watched him. His eyes were fixated on the now still glass. Slowly, he released the cup and clasped his hands together on the table. For a moment, Katie thought he was going to get up and leave, but instead he laughed. It was a low, awkward sort of laugh that people usually made when there wasn't really any reason to laugh. Katie felt a chill run down her spine.

"I don't have one." He said rather coolly. Katie felt her face heat up, "Oh . . ." They were silent again. This time, the quiet seemed to stretch on for hours.

"You said in your letter-"

"That was over a _year_ ago." He interrupted. He seemed to be upset. Katie stopped, thinking back. He was right, it had been a year since that letter. She thought back again to Eleanor, who Oliver had only "sort-of" dated, and Angelina and Alicia's remarks that this was how he _always was_. She had known that for a long time, so _why_ she wondered, did she take his offhand comment in that letter so seriously? It had, after all, been an offhand comment. She looked at him.

Oliver Wood. Brown hair, and a rather plain exterior at first glance. Yet, he had a pleasantly amused smile and an insane gleam in his eye when he spoke about quidditch. He was utterly _obsessed_ with the sport and hardly seemed to talk about anything else. He was difficult, and strong-headed, single-minded, and _stubborn_. He was often impossible to reason with and had a tendency to mix up his priorities. He was insane, and odd, and loyal, and simple, and sweet, and handsome, and completely and utterly the love of her life.

Katie stared at him, a warmth and calm spreading throughout her chest that she had never experienced before. She _loved_ him, she was totally and absolutely head-over-heels _madly in love_ with Oliver Wood, and she couldn't be happier.

He was looking up at her, slowly. A confused look plastered across his wonderful face.

". . . why are you smiling at me like that?"

Katie hadn't realized she had been smiling, but now realized she had been beaming at him like a fresh ray of sunshine. She made no effort to correct this, and ignored his question.

"I went to see you after your game but you were knocked out." She said. Oliver looked down at his glass again, he seemed uncomfortable.

"I know. My teammates told me." He seemed to be blushing a bit.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay." She said. Oliver nodded, his eyes still on the glass.

Katie knew she couldn't say anything right now. This was Alicia's wedding, they were surrounded by people, a war was brewing, and her boyfriend was just across the room talking to Mr. Spinnet. But she knew what she wanted now, and he was sitting just two feet away staring at a water glass.


	9. The Battle of Hogwarts

Katie broke up with Malcolm as they were leaving the wedding. It seemed to take him by surprise. She felt bad about the way his face crinkled up, and as she had liked him quite a bit, she was sad to see him go. But she knew that this was what was best, this was what was needed.

However, she didn't have too much time to feel bad about it as things moved quickly. Over the next several months, the wizarding world was turned upside-down. Muggle-borns were being hunted down. Witches and wizards were disappearing off the streets, either from going into hiding or from being taken by the snatchers. Katie's own family stayed as quiet as possible, until they too were forced to go on the run to protect Katie's muggle-born father. Katie went with them, travelled with them until her DA coin was calling out too loudly for her to ignore.

Katie returned to Hogwarts.

There, students were hiding out in the room of requirement, which had been fashioned into quite a nice place to spend one's time, complete with girls' bathroom and a secret tunnel to the Hog's Head. There, Katie reunited with Angelina, Alicia, and Leanne. She was pleased to see them all. She also ran into the twins – and many, many other former classmates, including Oliver, whose greeting was awkward, but who seemed pleased to see her. There wasn't much time to chat, as Harry and Luna came bursting in with news.

Soon, the underage students were being evacuated, and the rest were readying for battle. Voldemort offered them an ultimatum, to turn in Harry for the safety of the rest. While Pansy Parkinson seemed all for it, the other students screamed their opposition, and Slytherin house was ejected from the battle. Harry set off to find Ron and Hermione, and then the battle began.

* * *

It was utter chaos, spells and screams of agony where everywhere. Witches and wizards ran about the school in a blur, there were giants, and death eaters, and portraits running amuck.

It was too much to focus on, too much to remember. Katie ran about, shooting off spells and avoiding other the best she could. She tried to keep track of her group but there was too much going on. Leanne was with her, but she tried not to think about her friends, about Oliver.

Occasionally she crashed into a wall, or into another witch or wizard. At one point she was dealt a rather heavy blow to the head, at another, a rather nasty spell tore up her arm. Katie knew she was lucky it had not been her wand arm, or surely she would be dead now.

She tried to ignore the bodies falling around her, tried not to notice which were which, and who was who.

And suddenly it had stopped.

As the ringing in Katie's ears began to die, and her muscles began to relax ever so slightly, she heard Voldemort's magically amplified voice resounding across the grounds. He offered them a chance to move their deceased, and Harry a chance to turn himself in.

Katie thought about Harry, she thought about the battle, and with the fight at a sudden pause, she suddenly thought about all of her friends. She fought between running towards the great hall, to running away from it.

Who had died? She needed to know, dreaded to know, and knew, above all else, that she could not avoid the next few hours, and the truth of what had occurred. After a slow, daunting march towards the great hall, she stood outside the doors, willing herself to enter. When she finally did, she could not hold back her emotions.

Bodies lined the great hall, many she did not know, some she did. As she walked passed, her tears fell more heavily. Though she did not sob, she merely cried silently. She did not mourn for one, but for the great loss that had occurred, and the many more that would surely follow. She passed Lavender Brown, and felt a fresh pang in her chest.

It was only when she came upon Lupin and his wife that she let out an awful, high-pitched sob. She covered her mouth with her hand and quickly looked away. She wanted to run, but knew she had to check all the bodies, to look for her friends. That was when she came upon a huddle of red-headed people. Katie's breath stopped, she was walking towards them, ever quickly now, counting them, looking over each of their dirty faces until she came upon the one lying on the ground.

"Fred, oh Fred." His mother sobbed into his chest. Katie stared, too shocked even to cry. She stared at his blank face, it looked unnatural this way. She tried to picture George, alone, without his brother attached to his side and found that she could not. This was when she turned away. Sobbing hysterically, and unable to see through her tears, Katie stumbled through the great hall, trying desperately to avoid the other mourners, the other bodies.

Finally she crashed into someone. Gripping their robes for balance, Katie looked up at them to apologize, if she could even possibly manage to do so. The equally tear-stained face of Angelina greeted her, and Katie knew that she had seen. The two collapsed into one another, sobbing into the shoulder of one another's robes. A few people came to them, led them away to the edge of the hall. As they moved farther away, Katie felt her cries beginning to reside. She didn't feel better, only numb.

She stood there beside Angelina for some time, but probably not as long as it felt. When Alicia came over and sat beside Angelina, Katie walked away. This time, she walked amongst the living. She observed their still breathing faces, and found comfort in their life. She also felt a resolve strengthening inside of her, a kind of power and determination which let her know that she could not stand for this. Just when she was beginning to feel ready, ready for battle, ready to build herself up for whatever may come, if only it could break her down again, she realized that she didn't know where Oliver was.

Suddenly she was panic-stricken. She raced around the hall as though her feet were on fire, glancing at all the bodies again, avoiding looking at Fred – but he wasn't there. She ran around the living, he was not there either. Katie stood, glued to the spot, staring at the large double-doors of the great hall, and waiting. He was not here, she was sure of it. But what did that mean? Bodies were still being brought into the great hall, he could still be out there, helping, or he could be out there, dead and waiting for someone to drag him into the great hall and place him beside everyone else. Katie almost lost her mind at the thought.

She watched the door, and each time a body came through she jumped, only to realize it was not Oliver. She watched three bodies come through, then it was too much and she had to look away. She found Leanne sitting in a corner, and rushed to hug her. The two girls embraced tightly, each one elated that the other was still there.

"Oh Katie," Leanne said with tears in her eyes as she pulled away, "I hadn't seen you anywhere in the hall yet – and I was so worried that you were – that you were . . ." her face twisted horribly at the thought. Katie nodded, near tears herself.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Katie said, and they embraced again. When they had both calmed down, and pulled away, Katie looked at her somberly.

"What's the matter?" Leanne asked. Suddenly Katie laughed.

"_What's the matter?_" she repeated, smiling sadly.

"I suppose it's a ridiculous question." Leanne replied. Katie nodded slowly. They both looked out at the many bodies within the hall, then they both had to look away.

"Leanne," Katie said softly, "have you seen Oliver anywhere?" she fixed Leanne with an intense stare. Leanne looked back, and answered all too slowly, "Oh . . . Katie. No, I'm sorry I haven't."

Katie heaved a gigantic sigh. She wasn't sure if it was from relief or from disappointment, but she looked away slightly calmer all the same. This was when Leanne noticed Katie's arm.

"My goodness – Katie! Your _arm_!" Leanne pointed at the bloody mess that was Katie's arm.

"Oh, this? It's not so bad?" Katie shrugged. To be honest, Katie had forgotten all about it, she hadn't even been able to feel the pain for the past hour or so. Suddenly it occurred to her that this was perhaps not a good sign.

"Katie, you should talk to a healer or something. I'm sure there's someone in here who knows a thing or two about-"

"I'm really fine, Leanne." Katie assured her. But suddenly Leanne fixed her with a glare so extreme that Katie knew she could not argue.

"Katie, if you don't get that looked at you'll _die._"

Katie thought about her body lying in the great hall beside Lupin, Fred, and Lavender. She thought of Angelina, Alicia, and Leanne, crying over _her_ body, and followed Leanne to find a healer.

A few minutes later, Katie sat on a stool as a wizard she did not know worked on her arm. Leanne had overseen it for a bit, to make sure Katie was getting treatment. But after a while of chatting with Katie, she went off to see if she recognized anyone in the dead. She had been too afraid to do so before now.

So Katie sat there, beginning to feel pain in her arm again and wondering vaguely if she would survive the rest of the battle, when out of the corner of her eye she saw two boys lay a body down amongst the others. Her eyes travelled first to the body, and her heart sank as she recognized Colin Creevey. He was underage, and must have snuck back in to fight. Her eyes lingered on his small form for a few moments, and then travelled up to look at the two who had carried him in. Neville Longbottom – who Katie was pleased to see alive, was already walking away. The second boy was standing at the edge of the hall, looking over each face of the deceased. It was Oliver.

Katie jumped up and hurled herself across the room, ignoring the screams from the healer that he _wasn't done yet!_ She tried to call out for him, but found that her throat had swollen shut. Tears were blurring her vision again when she finally smashed into a very shocked Oliver Wood.

Everything she had tried to hold in came bursting out. She was hugging him as tightly as she could, afraid he might disappear if she let go. She sobbed loudly into his robes, and said many incoherent things that even she could not understand.

Oliver may have been surprised at first, but soon he was hugging her back, just as tightly if not more so. His face was buried in the crook of her neck, and he seemed unwilling to move. Katie would not have moved herself if it was not for one simple necessity.

"Oliver . . ." she sniffled, "I can't breathe."

"Oh!" Oliver quickly released her, but his hands were still gripping her shoulders, and hers were digging into the crooks of his elbows. They stared at each other, both breathing heavily. Oliver was a mess, he was covered in dirt, and blood, and had several cuts on his face. Katie supposed she looked just the same. His robes were abysmal, but other than a few scrapes and bruises he didn't seem to have any serious injuries.

His face though, he was watching her with careful, glassy eyes. He looked so crestfallen, and yet so relieved, which was exactly the way Katie felt too. So relieved that he was alive, that they had both made it this far. They didn't say anything, there didn't seem to be anything to say.

For the remainder of the hour, Oliver sat next to Katie, holding her good hand as the aggravated healer worked on her arm. Except for some brief mentions of the fallen, they were silent until an announcement rocked them from their seats.

* * *

Harry? Dead? Could it possibly be true? Everyone who still lived filed out of the great hall and out onto the ground, where death eater patrolled about. Then she saw him Harry, who looked so small cradled in Hagrid's arms, still and lifeless.

Suddenly, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were screaming. Horrible, strangled cries of pain, loss, and agony. Then everyone was screaming, all of Hogwarts was flooded with the sound of grief, and the loss of hope. Katie could feel herself screaming as well, could hear those around her joining in – until a bang silenced them all.

Voldemort informed them that Harry had died trying to abandon them. This triggered a scream from Ron Weasley, which sent the crowd into hysterics yet again. Another bang. More silence. Voldemort repeated his story. This was when Neville Longbottom – to everyone's shock, ran at him with a horribly twisted, and pained look on his face. Voldemort knocked him aside and laughed. He seemed pleased with Neville though, especially upon hearing that he was a pure-blood. He offered Neville a place amongst his death eaters, which caused Neville to angrily refuse and scream out, "Dumbledore's Army!"

The entire DA cheered, along with the rest of the school.

Voldemore was not pleased, he announced that there would be no more houses at Hogwarts, only Slytherin. He called the sorting hat onto the field, froze Neville, and placed the hat upon his head. Then, he and the other death eaters, taking careful aim, caused the hat to burst into flames atop Neville's head.

That was it, the battle broke out again.

* * *

Suddenly everyone was charging. Giants and house elves, teachers and students, death eaters and DA centaurs. Everyone was rushing towards the great hall, there was screaming and spells flew in every which direction. Katie lost track of Oliver, she lost track of everybody.

Suddenly they were all in the great hall, death eaters were falling one by one until finally, only Bellatrix Lestrange remained. Voldemort stood at the center of the hall, taking on Professor McGonagall, Professor Slughorn, and Kingsley Shacklebolt all at once. And there, fighting Bellatrix Lestrange, the last great office of the dark lord, was Molly Weasley. She had pushed Herimione, Luna, and Ginny aside to take on Bellatrix herself. A look of hatred, and determination was across her usually kind features.

At one point, Katie and few other students tried to help Mrs. Weasley, but she shooed them away, wanting Bellatrix to herself. And then, suddenly, she fell. Hitting the ground with a resounding thud. She was dead.

Voldemort let out of horrid scream, and the three he had been dueling went flying backwards. Everyone watched, their mouths open in horror as Voldemort aimed his wand at Molly Weasley when all of a sudden, with the thundering roar of a spell, Harry Potter appeared, completely alive.

There was screaming, cheering, all of their voices rose together in one continuously loud noise to see Harry there, Harry Potter, the boy who had, indeed, lived.

And then, Harry and Voldemort were yelling at one another, challenging. They spoke of Harry's survival, of his family, of his friends. And Harry spat out the name "Riddle," a name so full of meaning that Voldemort fixed him with a glare of fury.

Then Harry revealed he had a secret. A secret that would save him from death. The crowd watched with bated breath as Voldemort argued with Harry, attempted to weasel he secret out of him. He guessed it was love – or some magic Harry had that he thought was more powerful than the dark lord.

They spoke of Dumbledore, of Snape, of Lily Potter. They spoke as if they were alone, they spoke a language that only they understood, and the rest could only watch as half spoken secrets unfurled before them. And then, Harry spoke a few words, a few very simple words, "try for some remorse."

Voldemort flew into a furious rage, and suddenly the conversation took a turn back to Dumbledore's death, his last great plan, and the allegiance of the elder wand. Everyone was listening to the dialogue in rapture, the back and forth, the confusing twists and turns of stories they only partly knew until a name came up that they had almost forgotten, and certainly never expected to hear, Draco Malfoy.

Harry explained how the wand had gone from Dumbledore to Draco, not to Snape. How he had disarmed Draco, and was now the true master of the elder wand. Harry gave one last declaration, one last gamble. He asked Voldemort if the wand knew its true master, how the battle would end.

With a loud bang, red and green jets of light flew towards each other, colliding in the center as Harry and Voldemort cast their spells. Then suddenly, Voldemort's wand was in the air, and like a scene reminiscent of a Gryffindor quidditch match, which seemed oh so long ago, Harry caught the wand.

As he did so, something amazing occurred, something amazing, and incredible, and so utterly anti-climactic. Voldemort fell to the ground with a small, yet ever resounding thud. Killed, by his own rebounding curse.

For some time, everyone was too shocked, to speak, too shocked to believe it. But there Voldemort, lay, dead at Harry's feet. The hall exploded with cheers.

* * *

The bodies had been moved, the house tables returned. Everyone sat jumbled together, chatting amongst themselves, relieved that the battle was over, that the battle had been won.

Katie and Leanne somehow found themselves beside Cho Chang, who Katie was actually quite pleased to see alive. It now no longer seemed to matter that she had been difficult or gossipy. She was alive, and that was wonderful. As she sat there, chatting with Leanne, Cho, and Padma as though everything in the world was normal, she spotted Oliver across the hall. He spotted her as well, and smiled. They waved at one another from across the hall.

Katie turned back to the girls she was sitting with. She felt the loss of her friends and classmates. She felt worry for the future of all who had been at the battle, and for the future of the wizarding world itself. And yet, she also felt calm. She felt that for the first time in a very long time, she had what may be a real life ahead of her.


	10. Aftermath

She felt as though she should stay in that hall forever, chatting with her fellow soldiers, with her people. But even though the day seemed as though it should never end, eventually it did. She said goodbye to Leanne, to Angelina, Alicia, Harry, the Weasleys, the DA, even Cho. She was already wishing she could see them all again. Finally, right before leaving, she said goodbye to Oliver. Their goodbye was short, and left space for much more to be said. But neither said anything. They both seemed to sense that now was not the time.

* * *

As strange as it may seem, life moved on. The ministry reformed under temporary Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, who allowed all those who fought at the hereafter named "Battle of Hogwarts" to be become aurors. Katie decided, after some thought, not to take up the opportunity. Remembering the staff at St. Mungo's, and the angry little wizard who had saved her life during the battle, Katie followed her previous instincts and became a healer. She began working at St. Mungo's, and continued staying with her parents for some time. It was nice to be around family.

Eventually, however, she did move out. She visited Leanne, Angelina, and Alicia. She heard a bit about how everyone was coping with the end of the war.

And one day, not 6 months after the battle, she ran into Malcolm.

"Hi, Katie." Malcolm was standing in front of the hospital, looking tired and stressed.

"Malcolm." It was all she could seem to say. Malcolm looked her up and down, smiling softly.

"You look good in green." He complimented. His easy smile was contagious, and Katie soon found herself smiling back.

"Thanks."

"I – uh, heard about the battle." Malcolm said. Katie nodded.

"Oh, Katie," he seemed about to cry, "I'm so sorry." Suddenly they were hugging, holding onto one another as each felt the pain of the other. Malcolm went on to tell Katie how awful he felt about not being there, how awful he felt that _she_ was there. How awful it all must have been. Katie told him about it. She couldn't quite remember what she said, what she included and what she left out, but it seemed to both comfort, and horrify him to know the story. Somehow, their conversation drifted into easier topics. Katie learned that Malcolm was thinking of joining the ministry, now that it was reforming. Katie spoke a bit about becoming a healer, and apologized for the way things ended between them.

"Don't be sorry," Malcolm said, smiling gently at her, "you were always out of my league, Katie." And then he was gone. Katie had been glad to see him again, glad he was doing well. In fact, after seeing him, there was only one person left she had yet to check in with after the war.

* * *

Oliver seemed to have a habit of turning up right when Katie was thinking of him. This time was no exception. Late afternoon, the very next day, Katie was walking the halls wondering if she should check in on a rather needy and obnoxious patient, when a muddy quidditch team rolled in, hauling an injured member in their arms, and tracking dirt and mud from the rain onto the clean, white floors of St. Mungo's.

After a moment of initial shock, Katie recognized them as Puddlemere United, and the injured member as none other than Oliver Wood. The team was standing around him, muttering to each other, when suddenly the pretty chaser Katie remembered from before looked up and noticed her. Suddenly, her face brightened.

"Hey everybody – look! It's Katie Bell!" she said. Katie was suddenly fixed with the stares of the entire team.

"Katie Bell!" they chorused gleefully. Then, all too quickly they were handing Oliver to her. He was much heavier than she was, and she nearly collapsed beneath his weight.

"We leave him in your capable hands!" one of the members cried as they scrambled out the doors. Luckily, a few other healers arrived to give Katie a hand, and they helped haul Oliver over across the ground floor over to Artefact Incidents, where he would be treated for a few semi-serious injuries which resulted from a broom crash.

Katie and another healer got right to work. His wounds may have been quite serious at a muggle hospital, but at St. Mungos' they patched him up nicely, and Katie estimated he would be ready to leave in 3-5 days. They also tried to clean him up a bit, since he was covered in mud and dirt, and was soaking wet. He slept through the night, which was probably a good thing.

Around mid-afternoon the next day, however, he awoke. Katie had been hovering around his bed nearly all day, and was very pleased when he had awoken.

"Hey Oliver," she said softly, suspecting his head may be throbbing, "how're you feeling?"

"Katie?" he muttered, recognizing her through his groggy, and confused state.

"It's me." She clasped his hand in hers, searching his face for a coherent expression, but he seemed quite out of it.

"Little Katie Bell, you were like a _bird_." He muttered. Katie nodded, although she wasn't really sure what exactly he was talking about. Suddenly he turned his head and looked right at her, Katie jumped a bit, but didn't turn away.

"You know what Charlie said to me? He said – "She's a bit _young_ for you, isn't she?" right at first tryouts – you were so little. And I didn't think anything of it –he was joking you know, but then it turned out Katie, it turned out that you were _wonderful_. Even Eleanor said so – she said "that Katie Bell is so sweet and so smart and so pretty," and she always thought that you were so much better than she was and-" suddenly Oliver leaned in a bit, and lowered his voice.

"You know, I couldn't say anything but I _agreed_ with her." He said quite seriously. Katie blushed, she wasn't quite sure why Oliver felt the need to talk about all these old things, but she couldn't bring herself to stop him. It's good that he's awake – that he's talking, that's what she told herself. But deep down she just really wanted to know what he'd say next.

"You're so nice, Katie . . . I couldn't even be properly mad about Pucey because you were so _sweet_ about it." He looked away and smiled, "and then you _kissed_ me."

"What?" this particular memory shook Katie out of her blissful haze – she was trying to think of what Oliver could possibly be talking about when she remembered. She had stayed behind on the quidditch pitch one day to talk some sense into Oliver when she kissed him on the cheek. More than anything, she supposed, she was surprised he remembered such a short, insignificant moment.

"That's when I knew that I liked you." He said softly. Katie stared at him, sitting propped up against pillows and gazing at the bedspread as if it were some faraway place.

Eventually Katie had to leave to look after her other patients, but since Oliver had stopped talking after his little declaration, it hardly seemed to matter. For the remainder of the day, he said nothing about, leaving Katie to wonder if he even remembered saying it. There little conversation had done something else as well. It had caused Katie to remember that they had never really resolved anything, the war had interrupted a conversation which now felt so very far away.

So maybe she shouldn't have been surprised when the very next day, she went to visit a far more coherent Oliver to find he was a bit uncomfortable with her presence.

"So you're a healer now?" Oliver gestured to Katie's lime green robes.

"Yeah. I was sort of inspired by my own stay at St. Mungo's." she laughed a little, to lighten the mood. But Oliver only gave a very small, and very forced smile. He didn't really seem to want her here. Katie felt horribly uncomfortable, and wished she could leave as well. But with the way his treatment was going, Oliver would be out of St. Mungo's by tomorrow, and she wasn't sure when she would ever see him again.

"Oliver why didn't you ever say anything?" the words were out of her mouth before she had time to think of them. But although she was terrified of what might happen next, she was relieved that at least something was finally happening. Oliver sat up a bit, and looked at her cautiously.

"I-I don't know . . . I tried a couple of times." He said slowly, he smiled a bit, "I suppose I was never quite sure how you felt." He stopped talking, but somehow Katie felt as though there was more to that sentence. She waited for him to continue the thought, but instead he turned to her with a rather agitated look on his face.

"I don't really see why this _matters_. You've already turned me down in _no uncertain terms_, I don't understand why you're suddenly so interested in dissecting it all." He said angrily. His tone set her off a bit.

"Because it just _does_, Oliver. You're one of my oldest friends and after all this time we've known each other you just _show up_ one day and suddenly you're in love with me and I want to know _what happened_." She said huffily, trying hard not to raise her voice. She felt a bit better after responding, and calmed a bit, "I think I deserve an explanation."

Oliver turned to her, opened his mouth to say something, and then quickly shut it and looked away. He fiddled anxiously with his bed sheets for a few minutes, fidgeting under Katie's stare, until finally he dropped the sheets with a breath of exasperation and turned to her.

"Well – fine. What then? What do you want to know?" he said quickly, his eyes were shifting nervously, as though he couldn't quite make up his mind of whether he wanted to make eye contact with her or not. Katie sighed.

"If you liked me than why did you go out with that girl in your letter?" she asked slowly. Oliver was staring at the bed sheets again.

"It was easier." He said simply, he thought for a moment and then added, "I knew she wouldn't say no."

"Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

"I wasn't sure I would _ever_ tell you." He said. This confession surprised her.

"Why not?" she asked, the confusion evident on her face.

"Well, I just thought-" he glanced up at her, "_correctly assumed_ that you might . . . turn me down." He was staring at the bed sheets again.

"Then why did you tell me at all?" she wasn't sure why she sounded so angry. His eyes widened a bit at her tone and he looked at her again. His stare intimidated her a bit, but she was glad that he at least was paying attention to her and not those stupid bed sheets.

"_Because_ Katie, you almost _died_, okay? You almost _died_ and I was _scared_ and I was _upset_ and-" he quickly looked away and made an aggravated noise before looking back at her again, this time with a new fire burning in his eyes, "You know what? I didn't _plan_ to tell you, okay?" he was shouting at her now, "I didn't, it just – it just _slipped out_ while you were lying in that hospital bed and I was thinking to myself how _I would have felt_ if I had never seen you again – how I would've felt if you'd _died_."

The air hung with the awkward silence that followed Oliver's ramblings. Both he and Katie were locked in a staring match, glaring at each other with a mix of fury, fear, and confusion.

"If you were so concerned for me," Katie began slowly, her teeth clenched, "then why did you _run out_?" at the end of her phrase her voice rose sharply.

"What do mean, "_why?"_ you-"

"You left me there, Oliver! I couldn't chase after you – I couldn't even walk!"

Silence fell across the room again. This time neither looked at each other. Oliver was back to staring at the blindingly white bed sheets while Katie tried to focus on the polka dots which seemed to dance across the curtains.

"You rejected me." His voice was so quiet she almost missed it, "I couldn't stay after that." Katie held her breath, she was afraid that the slightest movement, the slightest sound might break the gentle calm that had washed over them.

"I tried to just . . . forget about it, you know? Tried not to think about it." His voice seemed to die at the end of each sentence. He looked up a bit, an agitated smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

"Then of course – in the middle of avoiding you, you _show_ up at one of my games and wind up on the big screen." He was really smiling now, he seemed bemused by the horribleness of the entire situation, "Imagine that, first time you ever come to a game of mine and you're on the big screen kissing another bloke – that plus the bludger," he laughed, "second worst day of my life . . ."

Katie didn't ask what the first was, she had a feeling she knew. He grew quiet again, his eyes travelled back to his hands, which were once again fiddling with the bed sheets.

"How is Malcolm?"

"Good, he's good." She said. Oliver nodded slowly.

"We broke up." She sounded surprised at her own words. Oliver stopped fiddling with the bed sheets.

"I'm sorry." His voice was flat. Katie looked at him for a moment, then an amused smile crept across her face. She shook her head slightly.

"No you're not." She watched as the corners of Oliver's mouth twitched. He glanced at her, his eyes glinting.

"No. You're right I'm not." He laughed, and so did she. She couldn't remember the last time they had laughed together, the last time this simple aura had surrounded them. As their laughter died down, Oliver chanced another glance at her.

"When did you two . . . uh,"

"After Alicia's wedding." Katie said. Oliver looked at her. His brow was furrowed, he was clearly confused. When he saw Katie smiling at him, he seemed even more confused. He was probably thinking of saying something, but for whatever reason chose not to.

"Oliver," Katie said playfully, "tell me what you're thinking."

"Nothing." He responded a bit too quickly. Katie's smile faltered.

"Oliver, it's not a big deal. Just-"

"No. I mean – nothing."

Katie was growing more annoyed by the second. It must have shown in her face too, as Oliver was avoiding eye contact again. Katie suddenly remembered his silence from the beginning of their conversation, that pause that seemed to imply there was more to what he said.

"Why did you think I'd turn you down?"

"Well you _did_, so obviously-"

"Yes but why did you think I _would_?" she asked crossly. Oliver gave an exasperated sigh and turned away from her.

"Oliver." She said sharply. He looked at her nervously.

"Why are you being so-"

"Because I _know_ there's something you're not telling me!"

"Katie-"

"Oliver!"

"There's not-"

"Tell me WHY!" she bellowed.

"_BECAUSE_ KATIE!" his response was so strong Katie nearly fell out of her seat, "You're sweet and funny and beautiful and _wonderful_!" He stared at her with a look of great intensity, breathing heavily. "And I'm _not_!" The angry look on his face was dashed away, and suddenly he looked crestfallen. His gaze fell and he leaned back into his pillows. This was when little Katie Bell punched him in the arm.

"FUCK! What the _hell_ Katie – I'm a _patient_!" he yelled, rubbing his arm.

"_No_, you're an _idiot_!" she said through clenched teeth.

"Who said you weren't sweet?" she yelled, punching him again.

"Who said you weren't funny?" another punch.

"Who said you weren't beautiful or wonderful?" she was punching him over and over again, Oliver couldn't seem to escape from the tiny barrage of fists descending upon him.

"Who said that I never _liked you back_?" Oliver caught her by the wrist. They were inches away, staring into each other's eyes, and breathing heavily from the assault.

"When did you . . . you _liked_ me?" he asked. Katie relaxed, "I did." Oliver let go of her wrist, and she lowered her arm.

"Since fourth year." She added softly. He was watching her with a look of wonder on his face. Katie blinked as her eyes began to well up. She sniffed and shook her head.

"But I don't anymore." She said quickly.

"Because I'm an idiot?" Oliver looked down. He was smiling, trying to make a joke even though he was clearly hurt. But Katie was staring straight at him, her face blank, and serious.

"Because I love you."

He looked up, meeting her gaze. She had a moment to recognize the stunned expression on his face before she leaned forward and kissed him. She kissed him the way she should've kissed him the last time they were in St. Mungo's, and she felt all the feelings flooding in that she had felt back at Alicia's wedding. And when she pulled away and saw his face, looking stunned, and sweet, and just a little bit pleased, Katie felt the same relief and thankfulness she had felt at the Battle of Hogwarts, when she had realized that Oliver was alive.

Then he was smiling at her, and his smile was growing into a grin. And then Oliver Wood was entwining his fingers with hers and was kissing her again, and Katie kissed him back.


	11. Epilogue

"Oi! Wood! You've got a visitor!" A diminutive man with wavy blonde hair called into the locker rooms. Within seconds, Oliver arrived at the door. He attempted to shoo away his teammates, who were gathering with grins and interest at seeing Katie Bell standing outside their locker rooms. Oliver smiled at her, and after exiting the room completely, shut the door behind him.

"Katie, what's going on? The game's about to start." Oliver said. He was flushed with excitement, and glancing about eagerly. Obviously, he was quite anxious to go.

"I know, Oliver- but I've got to tell you something." She said. Oliver sighed, shifting nervously back and forth.

"This can't wait until after the game?"

"I'm not going to _be here_ after the game. I'm leaving right after to visit my parents for the weekend and this _can't wait_ until I get back." She was eyeing him so nervously, her hand mussed from the wind and her hands twitching in exasperation, that Oliver calmed slightly.

"Is everything alright?" he asked, suddenly concerned.

"No," Katie shook her head, "Maybe – I don't know." She looked quickly at the ground and then back at him, "I'm pregnant." She observed him closely, but he seemed to have frozen. However, he quickly jumped once a loud, "Ooooooooooh" came rising from the locker rooms. This was followed by several cheers and cries of "Yeah Oliver!" Katie blushed slightly, but Oliver turned a magnificent shade of red and quickly yanked the door open and yelled at them all to "Shut up," and "Shove it." After he had successfully slammed the door behind him he looked back at Katie. She was eyeing him nervously, her heart beating a mile a minute.

He stared at her, he seemed to be thinking hard about something. Katie wished she could ask him what it was. He inhaled suddenly, and tilted his head.

"There's a property near the moors, it has this great field where you could set up a little quidditch pitch . . ." he began slowly. Katie looked at him, a sneaking suspicion growing inside of her. Oliver looked at her hesitant half-smile and reddened a bit, shuffling his feet.

"It's a nice place to . . . grow up, I think." He muttered.

Katie grabbed the collar of his robes and yanked him down to her level, where she kissed him full on the mouth. When she pulled back they were both grinning.

"Tell your mum I say hi." He said. Katie pecked him on the cheek and released him.

"Will do," she said, smoothing out the creases of his robes, "Have a nice game. Good luck."

"Thanks," Oliver blushed. Oliver headed back into the locker room, and before the door swung shut Katie heard one of his teammate's ask jokingly when the wedding was, only to hear Oliver's rather serious reply, "next week."


End file.
